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CO  CO 


ACADIAN  CULTURE 
VOLUME  2 


CJ 

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THE  CAJUNS:   THEIR  HISTORY  AND  CULTURE 


HAMILTON  AND  ASSOCIATES 
A  Professional  Architectural  Corporation 
Opelousas,  Louisiana 


Jean  Lafitte  National  Historic  Park 
New  Orleans,  Louisiana 


This  Research  was  conducted  through  Contract  NPS:   CX8029-7-0004 
between  the  National  Park  Service  and  Hamilton  and  Associates  for  the 
Acadian  Culture  Centers  planned  for  Lafayette,  Eunice,  and  Thibodaux. 


July,  1987 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


Title 

Research  Team 
Table  of  Contents 


i 

li 

ill 


VOLUME  TWO 
PART  IV 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATIONS 
Family  Organization 

Jay  Edvards 
Acadian  Given  Names  and  Nicknames 

Jay  Edvards 
Social  Change  and  the  Cajun  Family 

Jay  Edvards 
Social  Organization  of  Rural  Acadian  Communities 

Jay  Edvards 

I.   The  Farmstead 
II.   The  Rural  Community 
Chart  of  the  Seasonal  Round 

Jay  Edvards 


1 
3 


11 
15 

19 
23 

29 


iii 


PART  V       FOLKLIFE  35 

Acadian  Folklife  in  the  Nineteenth  Century, 
Ca.  1840  -  Ca.  1900 

Carl  A.  Brasseaux  37 

Louisiana  French  Folklife:  An  Overview 

Barry  Jean  Ancelet  51 

Folk  Religion 

Barry  Jean  Ancelet  79 

Hardi  Gras 

Barry  Jean  Ancelet  87 

Cajun  Folk  Medicine 

Jay  Cdvards  103 

Cajun  Folk  Lav 

Janet  Shoemaker  and  Jay  Edvards  115 

Games 

Barry  Jean  Ancelet  119 

Anti-Clerical  Humor  in  French  Louisiana 

Barry  Jean  Ancelet  131 

The  Cajun  Who  Went  to  Harvard:   Identity 
in  the  Oral  Literature  of  South  Louisiana 

Barry  Jean  Ancelet  145 

Off-Color  Cajun  Jokes  (Cecelia  Area) 

Jay  Edvards  181 


iv 


PART  VI      CAJUN  MUSIC  167 

Cajun  and  Creole  Music:   Origins  and  Development 

Barry  Jean  Ancelet  169 

Svamp  Pop  201 

Making  Instruments  for  Cajun  and  Creole  Musicians 

Barry  Jean  Ancelet  211 

From  Grand  Texas  To  Jambalaya  and  Back  Again 

Barry  Jean  Ancelet  221 

Reconsidering  the  History  of  Cajun  and  Creole 
Music:   The  Lomax  Recordings  1934-1937 

Barry  Jean  Ancelet  237 

Zarico:   Beans,  Blues  and  Beyond 

Barry  Jean  Ancelet  261 


VOLUME 


TWO 


PART  IV      SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION 
PART  V       FOLKLIFE 
PART  VI      CAJUN  MUSIC 


PART  IV      SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION 


FAMILY  ORGANIZATION 

The  Traditional  Pattern 

Jay  Edwards 

Three  principal  factors  combined  to  shape  the  traditional  Cajun 
family:  culture  history,  religion  and  the  adaptation  to  rural  life.  The 
Acadian  family  cannot  be  considered  unique  or  distinct  in  terms  of  the 
basic  pattern  of  its  organization.  It  is  much  like  the  families  of  many 
other  rural  ethnic  groups  in  the  U.S.  In  terms  of  the  quality  of  its 
life  and  its  psychological  flavor,  however,  it  is  unique.  One  must 
always  keep  in  mind,  though,  that  the  Cajun  family  may  be  as  diverse  as 
that  of  any  other  ethnic  group.  Although  there  are  basic  elements  which 
characterize  this  cultural  institution,  individual  families  may  vary 
greatly.  The  feelings  and  values  which  unite  Cajun  families  are  subtle 
and  hard  to  pinpoint  objectively.  In  attempting  to  summarize  the  shared 
quality  of  emotional  experience  which  derives  from  a  complex  culture 
such  as  the  Acadian,  one  cannot  hope  to  attain  a  purely  scientific 
profile. 

The  traditional  Cajun  family  which  existed  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  eighteenth  and  in  the  nineteenth  centuries  is  not  identical  to  the 
Cajun  family  of  today.  Collard  (1975)  suggested  that  the  traditional 
family  was  characterized  by  five  principal  features: 

1.  The  central  role  of  the  wife/mother.  The  Acadian  mother  was  the 
principal  vehicle  of  transmission  and  reter.sion  of  Acadian  values  and 
Acadian  culture.  Considering  the  tiny  size  of  the  original  Acadian 
population  (less  than  four  thousand),  the  fragmented  nature  of  the 


immigration/  and  the  enormous  number  of  outsiders  who  have  been 
assimilated  into  the  Acadian  way  of  life,  the  strength  of  the  Acadian 
woman  and  mother  as  the  principal  vehicle  of  acculturation  must  be 
considered  nothing  short  of  miraculous.  When  the  Acadians  first  arrived 
in  Louisiana,  they  joined  relatively  large  numbers  of  Creoles,  Spanish, 
Germans  and  Indians  who  were  already  living  in  and  around  the  lands 
which  they  would  colonize.  Even  before  they  were  completely  settled 
into  their  new  pattern  of  life,  Anglos,  Irish,  Germans,  French,  West 
Indian  refugees  and  others  began  to  immigrate  and  settle  among  them. 
Wave  upon  wave  of  outsiders  descended  upon  the  Acadian  bayous  and 
prairies.  Yet,  within  only  a  generation  or  two,  most  of  these  outsiders 
and  their  descendants  had  been  fully  acculturated  to  Acadian  culture. 
The  number  of  Acadians  added  to  the  population  through  incorporation 
more  than  equalled  the  natural  increase  of  the  population  (Smith  and 
Parenton  1938) . 

The  principal  vehicle  of  transmission  was  the  Acadian  woman, 
supported  by  her  circle  of  relatives.  Her  feat  seems  even  more 
miraculous  when  we  consider  the  fact  that  the  Acadians  were  generally 
poorer  than  the  outsiders  they  adopted  and  that  rather  severe  ethnic 
antagonisms  existed  throughout  the  entire  period. 

2.  and  3.  The  extended  family  and  the  ioie  de  vivre.  It  is  not 
easy  to  put  one's  finger  on  the  reason  that  the  Acadian  woman  was  able 
to  so  easily  subdue  and  dominate  the  culture  of  so  many  outsiders.  One 
contributing  factor  is  certainly  to  be  found  in  the  intense  interaction 
which  characterizes  the  Extended  Acadian  Family.  Whatever  else  may  be 
said  of  them,  Acadians  loved  large  families.  They  also  encouraged 


intense  intercourse  between  members  of  these  families  on  a  regular 
basis.  Hospitality  was  raised  to  a  central  theme  of  Acadian  life.  One 
could  hardly  pass  the  door  of  an  Acadian  house  without  an  exchange  of 
greetings  and  news,  and  the  more  normal  pattern  was  to  be  invited 
inside  to  chat  for  a  while.  Food  and  drink  and  humorous  repartee  played 
a  large  role  in  these  informal  visits,  and  still  does  today.  An 
ambience  of  intensive  good  cheer  characterizes  Acadian  social 
interaction.  This  creates  an  atmosphere  which  may  be  unfamiliar,  but 
which  is  highly  attractive  to  many  outsiders,  particulary  those  of 
Anglo-saxon  and  Germanic  background  where  family  life  is  comparitively 
rigid,  formal  and  even  harsh. 

The  extended  family  provides  the  principal  environment  for  Acadian 
social  life.  Large  numbers  of  grandparents,  cousins,  aunts  and  uncles 
gather  on  a  regular  basis.  So  many  members  of  the  family  cannot  help 
but  exert  a  profound  influence  on  the  outsider,  whether  he  be  a  suitor 
for  a  daughter  of  the  family,  or  merely  a  visiting  stranger.  Although 
permission  to  wed  a  daughter  of  a  family  is  often  prerequisite  on  the 
approval  of  the  entire  extended  family,  that  same  extended  family 
exerts  a  powerful  psychological  influence  on  the  unwary  outsider  who  is 
informally  adopted  into  it,  even  temporarily.  That  influence  is  almost 
inescapeable  for  anyone  who  attends  the  boucherie,  the  afternoon 
veill^e,  the  evening  soir£,  the  fais  do-do,  the  cock  fight,  the  card 
game,  the  horse  race.  The  social  atmosphere  of  such  regular 
gatherings—the  lack  of  puritanical  attitudes,  the  fostering  of 
gregariousness  and  enjoyment  for  its  own  sake,  the  excitement  of 
wagering  on  the  game,  the  indulgence  in  story  telling  and  the  humorous 


anticdote,  the  social  and  sexual  attractions  of  the  dance,  and  the 
continual  replenishment  of  a  festival  atmosphere--all  these  and  others 
contribute  to  the  enjoyment  of  family  life  and  its  attraction  for  the 
outsider.   The  formal  and  informal  events  at  which  joie  de  vivre  rules 
may  be  considered  stages  for  the  acting-out  of  uniquely  Acadian 
performances.  Whether  a  particular  performance  is  overtly  oriented 
towards  the  preparation  and  consumption  of  traditional  foods  such  as 
the  famous  cafe-noir  (drip  coffee),  gumbo,  crawfish  or  fish  cuisine,  or 
whether  it  centers  about  an  activity  such  as  dancing,  horse  racing  or 
even  worshiping,  it  is  invariably  a  family  or  kin-oriented  activity. 
One  principal  rule  of  Acadian  family  life  is  that  no  one  is  to  be  left 
out  of  such  an  activity.  For  this  reason  small  babies  are  brought  to 
the  fais  do-do,  rather  than  being  left  at  home  with  a  baby  sitter. 
Young  children  dance  with  elderly  adults  on  the  dance  floor  of  bars  and 
resturants.  Every  child  plays  his  role  in  the  boucherie  or  in  the 
harvesting  of  crops.  This  spirit  of  gregariousness  extends  to  adults  as 
well,  of  course,  but  also  to  fortunate  strangers.  So  strong  is  this 
ethic  that  Acadian  culture  may  be  termed  an  incorporative  culture.  It 
deliberately  aims  to  incorporate  non-kin  and  other  outsides  into  almost 
every  field  of  activity  and  each  sphere  of  intense  social  interaction. 
In  this  theme  lies  one  of  the  strengths  of  Acadian  culture.  It  is,  I 
believe,  not  unrealistic  to  view  it  as  a  kind  of  adaptation  for 
survival  which  has  permitted  the  Acadians  to  prevail  through  many  a 
threat  to  their  identity  and  their  physical  well-being. 

4.  The  role  of  the  male.  As  in  most  families  of  European  descent, 
the  male  is  head  of  the  Acadian  household  and  principal  director  of  its 


8 


economic  and  social  destiny.  This,  of  course,  is  the  traditional 
pattern  long  encouraged  by  the  Catholic  church.  Among  Cajuns,  however, 
the  male  plays  his  role  in  a  very  special  way.  Unlike  the  domineering 
and  rather  remote  authoritarian  father  of  "Middle  High"  Germanic 
culture,  the  Cajun  father  participates  in  intense  interaction  with  his 
wife  and  children.  Typically,  he  shows  great  compasion  for  children  of 
all  ages.  From  the  earliest  age  the  child  is  encouraged  to  participate 
in  family  activities  of  all  types  and  to  play  an  important  role  in 
each.  No  matter  how  trivial  his  actual  material  contribution  may  be, 
the  child  is  given  the  impression  that  his  effort  has  been  important 
and  that  he  is  central,  rather  than  peripheral  to  the  core  of  family 
life  and  its  activities. 

This  is  not  to  suggest,  however,  that  the  matter  of  life  was  not  a 
serious  business  for  the  Cajun  family.  For  families  living  at  the 
subsistence  level,  as  most  Acadians  did  in  the  eighteenth  and  early 
nineteenth  centuries,  every  hand  was  important  and  the  skill  with  which 
each  task  was  accomplished,  critical  to  the  collective  well-being. 
Thus,  each  of  the  children  of  the  family  were  carefully  instructed  in 
their  necessary  duties.  For  most,  the  work  load  was  heavy  to  the  point 
of  being  onerous.  It  was  the  father's  role  to  see  that  the  work  was 
completed  on  time.  His  love  for  his  children  did  not  override  his 
responsibilty  for  enforcing  the  rules  and  directing  the  proper  behavior 
of  each  child.  The  difficulty  of  the  tasks  and  the  strictness  of  the 
Father's  guidelines  were  always  balanced,  however,  by  the  joie  de  vivre 
of  the  family  get-together.  When  the  work  was  done,  everyone  could 
relax  and  pass  a  good  time. 


5.  Religion.  The  Catholic  religion  has  also  exerted  considerable 

influence  on  the  quality  of  the  Acadian  family.  The  values  of  the 

church  shaped  and  supported  the  organization  of  the  Acadian  family.  The 

church  provided  another  setting  for  family  affairs  and  gatherings.  The 

calendrical  round  of  feast  days,  fasting  days,  holy  days  and  festivals 

was  largely  established  by  the  calendar  of  the  church.  Many  families 

attended  church  together  and  most  planned  festivals  and  other  church 

sponsored  events  as  group  or  cooperative  projects. 

Weddings,  christenings,  funerals,  and  feastdays  all  had 
religious  overtones.  The  priest  assumed  the  role  of 
"father-figure"  and  advisor  in  time  of  need.  Work  and 
religion  were  united  through  the  blessing  of  the  fields, 
tools,  animals  and  boats  (Ramsey  1957).  The  spirit  of  the 
church  invaded  each  home  and  was  apparent  in  attitudes  and 
interactions  between  family  members.   Duties  and  privileges 
of  husband  and  wife  were  sanctioned  by  the  church  and  respect 
of  child  for  parent  and  the  responsibility  of  parent  for 
child  were  advoctated  by  church  doctrine.  It  is,  in  fact, 
difficult  to  regard  any  of  the  other  four  elements  of 
Cajun  family  life,  from  the  strength  of  the  wife/mother 
to  the  lust  for  the  "good  live,"  which  were  not  touched 
by  the  church  (Collard  1975:113). 

The  rural  environment  and  economy  also  played  a  role  in  the 

development  of  the  Acadian  family.  Large  families  with  many  children  to 

help  out  with  the  chores  were  adaptive  in  the  environment  of 

subsistence  farming  and  hunting.  As  many  as  one  dozen  children  was  not 

considered  unusual  in  a  Cajun  family.  Of  course  the  church  also 

encouraged  large  families  through  its  restrictions  on  contraception. 

Rural  Acadian  families  were  also  characterized  by  a  relatively  high 

level  of  marriage  between  cousins  and  other  relatives. 

Most  early  Cajun  communities  wore  composed  of  collections  of 
relatives  living  on  adjacent  pieces  of  property,  and  the 
communities  developed  as  local  families  grew.  As  a  result, 
it  was  difficult  for  nonrelatives  to  meet  and  marriages  were 
frequently  made  between  cousins  of  varying  degrees  (first- 


10 


cousin  marriages  are  illegal  in  Louisiana  but  were  sometimes 
performed  anyway;  more  distant  cousins  can  marry  with  no 
difficulty).  Cousin  marriage  also  had  the  advantage  of 
keeping  property  within  family  groupings  and  sometimes  were 
preferred  by  parents  for  this  reason.  Because  there  has  been 
a  great  deal  of  residential  continuity  over  the  generations 
in  most  Cajun  communities/  today  it  is  understood  in  small 
towns  that  most  residents  are  related  to  one  another  (Esman 
1985:  39). 


The  closeness  of  sedentary  rural  life  lead  to  interesting  patterns 
of  marriage.  For  example  it  was  not  uncommon  for  pairs  of  siblings  from 
one  family  to  marry  those  of  another  family.  Two  brothers  often  married 
sisters  from  the  same  family.  Elegible  mates  were  often  difficult  to 
find,  and  the  members  of  large  families  living  nearby  were  an  obvious 
choice.  Another  result  of  this  pattern  is  the  localization  of  surnames. 
In  any  single  district  of  Acadiana,  specific  surnames,  presumably  those 
of  the  earliest  or  most  prolific  settlers,  tend  to  predominate.  It  is 
not  uncommon  for  a  town  to  be  dominated  by  less  than  a  half  dozen 
family  names. 

Another  aspect  of  rural  life  was  the  age  of  marriage.  Children 
tended  to  marry  young.  Ideally,  the  newly  married  couple  would  set  up  a 
household  withing  walking  distance  of  one  or  both  of  their  parents' 
houses.  All  relatives  living  nearby  became  part  of  a  support  group  upon 
which  the  young  couple  could  depend  for  financial  help,  for  labor  (as 
in  the  coup  de  main,  for  advise,  and  for  the  exchange  of  food  or  tools, 
as  with  the  boucherie. 

ACADIAN  GIVEN  NAMES  AND  NICKNAMES 
Names 

The  following  is  drawn  primarily  from  Reed  (1976:30-32)).  Before 
the  coming  of  the  cinema,  the  prairie  Acadians  often  baptized  their 

children  with  old  classical  names  which  had  also  been  popular  in  France 

11 


in  the  eighteenth  century.  Examples  of  such  names  included: 

Theodule       Euclide       Euchariste         Duclide 
Hyppolyte      Ulysse         Delphie  Telesphore 

From  these,  nicknames  were  derived  for  everyday  use: 
Titi      Toto      Lou-Lou        Theo 
Cariste   Lilisse 

One  also  commonly  heard  such  names  as : 

Ferdinand  Durelde   Euzebe    Armogene  Azeline   Armide 
Arsemise   Arcade    Kermance  Alcedius  Elfege    Jules 
Octave     Namard 

Around  1898  there  was  an  epidemic  of: 

Luna      Duma      Numa      Dena      Adena 
Damard    Lamard    Jeanmard  Namard 

Around  1940  a  new  series  of  names  became  popular: 

Milton    Silton    Wilton    Tilton    Gilton 

Nilton  and  so  fourth. 

After  the  First  World  War,  and  with  the  arrival  of  the  cinemas  and 
radio  (and  later  T.V.),  one  finds  increasing  popularity  of  modern  Cajun 
namo3  patterned  upon  English  first  names  and  shortened  to  a  single 
syllable.  These  "Hollywoodish"  names  included: 

Ted  Tod  Rod  Ned  Dee  Lee  Ray  Kay  Mae  Jay 

Bert  Bob  Joy  Wayne     Sue 


Parents  of  this  generation  selected  names  which  would  not  cause  shame 
when  they  were  used  in  the  English  speaking  schools. 

Even  in  modern  times,  however,  certain  Acadian  parents  give  their 
unfortunate  children  unusual  and  humorous  names.  One  hears 
occasionally: 

Shelvadine     Jasooline      Armadella      Virgine 

Nicknames 

The  telephone  directories  of  Acadiana  provide  one  with  a  wealth  of 

nickname  of  these,  presumably  from  the  Mamou  area: 

Luckette       Aloy  Dassa     Kai       Hackdeux 

Nelkon        Gudley        Exand     Ulfoy     Oklie 
Oftay         Quilea        Voicy     Prosse    Seig 
Brace         Weekly        Easy      Gassie    Amaze 
Polite        Acey  Palestine  Soilnor   Mercy 

Zaquet        Waddie        Berbis    Vergin    Reversal 
"In  the  good  old  days  of  ignorance,  poverty  and  the  great 

depression"  It  was  not  uncommon  to  discover  a  father  who  baptized  all 

of  his  sons  with  the  same  first  name.  The  most  popular  name  was  "Jean." 

Thus,  one  found  families  with: 

Jean-Joseph    Jean-Marie     Jean-Charles   Jean-Robert 

Other  fathers  named  all  of  their  offspring,  or  all  of  their 
daughters  with  names  which  began  with  the  same  first  letter: 

Odile     Obele     Ophelia   Oliva     Orelia    Omerice 
Olena     Olive     Overine   Ovelia    Ovenia    Ozone 

13 


SOCIAL  CHANGE  AND  THE  CAJUN  FAMILY  TODAY 
Jay  Edwards 

What  aspects  of  the  traditional  Acadian  family  survive  in  the 
1988s?  This  is  a  difficult  question  to  answer  because  of  the  rapid  and 
uneven  levels  of  social  change  occurring  in  Acadiana  in  the  past  four 
decades.  While  some  Cajuns,  particularly  in  the  more  rural  and  isolated 
communities/  retain  the  traditional  family  pattern,  most  Cajuns  today 
have  moved  towards  the  standard  American  model  for  surburban  and  rural 
families. 

The  principal  cause  of  change  in  the  Acadian  family  has  been 
acculturation  to  the  dominant  American  pattern  of  culture.  This  has 
been  brought  about  through  a  combination  of  factors.  Among  these  have 
been:  the  participation  of  many  young  Acadian  men  in  the  military  in 
two  world  wars,  dramatically  improved  roads  and  public  transportation, 
the  increased  availability  and  standardization  of  Louisiana's 
English-language  public  education,  scholarships  and  other  opportunities 
for  higher  education,  and  the  powerful  motivation  of  better  economic 
opportunities  available  to  those  who  can  "defend  themselves"  in  the 
Anglo-American  environment.  Acadians  live  under  basically  the  same 
economic  and  social  pressures  as  other  Americans.  The  period  between 
1930s,  when  jobs  in  the  oil  industry  became  available  on  a  large  scale, 
and  the  1960s,  when  the  mass  media  became  the  dominant  force  in 
supplying  a  unified  standard  for  American  culture  to  Acadian  youth, 
tremendous  changes  occurred  in  Acadian  culture  and  the  Cajun  family. 
Increasingly,  the  Acadian  family  has  come  to  resemble  its 


15 


Anglo-American  counterpart.  Nevertheless,  the  Acadian  family  still 
retains  much  of  its  distinctive  flavor.  Traditional  values  and 
practices  have  been  modified,  but  they  have  not  disappeared. 

A  few  comparisons  between  the  typical  Acadian  family  and  the 
Louisiana  Anglo  family  may  illustrate  the  point.  These  comparisions  are 
based  on  data  drawn  from  the  Census  of  1980.  These  data  lump  all 
persons  of  Louisiana  French  ancestory  into  a  single  category,  so 
Acadians  are  grouped  with  Creole  French  for  the  purposes  of  comparison. 
There  is  little  reason  to  believe  that  the  figures  would  differ 
substantially  if  the  census  takers  had  distinguished  between  Acadian 
French  and  Creole  French.  Each  of  these  findings  is  supported  by 
additional  social  and  ethnographic  data,  for  example  that  for  the 
Breaux  Bridge  area  recently  collected  by  Esman  (1985:  39-53). 

To  begin  with,  Acadians  live  somewhat  longer  than  their  Anglo 
counterparts.  The  median  age  for  Louisianians  of  English  descent  is 
30.2,  while  that  for  the  French-descended  population  is  31.4  (it  must 
be  those  crawfish!). 

The  typical  Acadian  household  is  larger  than  its  Anglo  equivalent. 
The  mean  household  size  in  Anglo-Louisiana  is  2.14,  while  it  is  2.94 
for  Louisiana  French.  The  average  family  size  is  3.28,  as  compared  with 
3.40  for  French.  The  percentage  of  households  with  six  or  more  persons 
is  5.35  for  English  and  6.67  for  French.  The  larger  Acadian  household 
is  the  result  of  at  least  three  factors: 

Acadians  like  to  keep  their  families  together  as  long  as  possible. 
Unmarried  children  tend  to  stay  at  home  living  with  their  parents  and 
contributing  to  the  family  economy.  While  only  77  percent  of  Anglo 


16 


children  under  the  age  of  18  remain  in  the  family  house  living  with 
both  parents,  83.9%  of  French  children  do  so. 

Acadians  tend  to  divorce  at  a  lower  rate  than  their  Anglo 
counterparts.  While  77.6%  of  Anglos  in  Louisiana  have  never  been 
divorced  (as  of  1980),  81.8%  of  the  French  have  remained  married. 

Acadians  also  tend  to  have  a  somewhat  higher  fertility  rate  than 
Anglos  do.  The  mean  number  of  children  ever  born  is  1480  for  each 
thousand  Anglo  women,  and  1638  per  one  thousand  French  women. 

The  rates  of  fertility  are  changing  rapidly,  however,  and  the 
changes  are  much  greater  for  Acadians  than  for  Anglos.  If  the  total 
number  of  women  who  have  had  children  (married  and  unmarried)  is 
considered,  the  fertility  rate  for  Anglo  women  in  the  35  to  44  age 
bracket  is  1701,  while  it  is  1780  for  French  women.  This  is  about  what 
we  might  expect  from  other  figures.  If  we  move  to  a  younger  age 
bracket,  however,  these  figures  change  dramatically.  In  the  bracket  15 
to  24  years,  the  fertility  rate  for  Anglo  women  is  468,  but  for  Acadian 
women  it  is  only  379.  Young  French  women  are  bearing  only  81%  as  many 
children  as  their  Anglo  counterparts!  It  is  clear  that  young  Acadian 
(French)  women  are  postponing  marriage  and  childbirth  at  an  even  higher 
level  than  Anglos  are.  Whether  this  is  a  phenomena  common  only  to  young 
Cajun  women,  or  whether  it  will  eventually  characterize  all  Cajuns  in 
Louisiana  is  something  which  we  will  have  to  wait  to  see. 

The  Modern  Caiun  Houg-:.;. told 

Modern  Cajun  women  have  accc-modated  their  lives  to  modern 
American  culture.  While  the  traditional  rural  farmwife  is  still  to  be 


17 


found,  she  is  no  longer  the  most  common  type  of  Cajun  wife.  She  is 
rapidly  being  replaced  by  the  modern  housewife.  This  housewife  is  often 
a  working  woman.  In  1980/  39.4%  of  Anglo  wives  were  employed  (not 
including  on  farms),  and  36.2%  of  French  wives  were  similarly  employed. 
Neither  does  the  Cajun  woman  speak  French  for  the  most  part.  Based 
on  informal  surveys  by  myself  and  Cajun  scholars,  women,  far  more  than 
their  men,  speak  English  in  most  if  not  all  occasions.   It  appears  that 
the  Cajun  mother  has  been  willing  to  give  up  her  traditional  language 
in  order  to  provide  a  better  education  and  life  chances  for  her 
children.   Many  Cajun  men  do  not  live  by  the  same  values,  however. 
They  retain  French  as  a  major  vehicle  for  communication,  particularly 
in  the  male-dominated  work  place  and  in  the  traditional  amusements  as 
well.   This  produces  the  rather  ironic  situation  in  which  young  Cajun 
men  learn  English  at  home.   Later,  when  they  leave  their  families  and 
enter  a  profession,  many  have  occasion  to  pick  up  a  French  language 
that  they  have  never  spoken  on  a  regular  basis,  despite  their  cultural 
identity. 


16 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  OF  RURAL 
ACADIAN  COMMUNITIES 
Jay  Edwards 

Having  now  discussed  the  nature  of  the  traditional  Cajun  family,  we 
now  turn  our  attention  the  organization  of  the  community.  Social 
organization  in  folk  communities  is,  in  large  part,  informal.  Thus,  our 
discussion  is  broken  into  two  parts,  one  dealing  with  informal 
organization  and  the  other  formal. 

This  discussion  is  based  on  original  research  and  secondary 
sources.  Among  the  best  sources  were:  Pellegrin  1949,  Smith  1934, 
Parenton  1948.    In  the  nineteenth  century  and  the  first  half  of 
twentieth,  the  social  order  of  the  Acadians  was  fixed  firmly  in  a  long- 
established  rural  mode  of  life  firmly  founded  on  three  primary 
elements.  These  were:  the  nature  of  the  farmstead,  the  organization  of 
the  rural  community,  and  the  relationships  between  the  Cajun  family  to 
the  larger  socio-political  order  (parish  and  state  government,  primary 
and  secondary  services  available  in  urban  centers,  etc. ). 

I.  THE  FARMSTEAD 

The  River  Settlements 

In  the  nineteenth  century  Acadiana  was  characterized  by  two  basic 
forms  of  settlement.  These  were  the  RURAL  STRIP  VILLAGE  and  the  PRAIRIE 
SETTLEMENT.  Terrain  and  ecology  determined  the  nature  of  the  settlement 
pattern  for  the  most  part.  Strip  villages  were,  of  course,  located 


19 


along  the  waterways,  principally  Bayou  Lafourche,  The  Mississippi  River 
(Acadian  Coast)/  and  Bayou  Teche;  however,  a  great  number  of  smaller 
bayous  and  rivers  attracted  similar  settlement  patterns.  Along  Bayous 
Teche  and  Lafourche/  strip  settlement  was  continuous  for  many  miles 
(see  illustration). 

In  his  study  of  Bayou  Lafourche  in  1932/  T.  Lynn  Smith  noted  a 
density  of  approximately  thirty  houses  per  mile  on  each  side  of  the 
bayou  in  the  area  south  of  Thibodaux.  The  smaller  farms  averaged 
approximately  220  feet  wide  and  a  mile  and  a  half  deep  (Fig.  1). 
Houses  were  constructed  along  the  river  road,  near  the  bayou  (Fig.  2). 
Larger  plantations  were  also  distributed  along  the  eastern  side  of  the 
bayou.  At  the  time  of  his  survey,  French  was  the  only  language  spoken 
in  most  of  the  homes. 

In  strip  communities/  communication  originally  was  mostly  by  water. 
Each  family  had  one  or  more  pirogues  or  bateaux.  Sail  boats  were  also 
employed.  Transportation  was  relatively  easy,  if  slow.  Later,  when 
roads  were  built  along  the  crests  of  the  natural  levees,  more  rapid 
horse-drawn  and  automobile  transportation  was  available.  The  settlement 
pattern  and  transportation  networks  retained  their  strongly  linear 
forms.   After  the  colonial  period,  most  local  services  such  as  a 
churches  and  stores  were  available  in  the  immediate  area  (except  for 
the  more  isolated  communities  such  as  those  in  lower  Lafourche  and 
Terrebonne  parishes  -Fig.  4).   Saturday  night  dances  were  attended  by 
families  within  a  radius  of  fifty  miles  in  1932  (Smith  1934;  687).  This 
is  despite  the  fact  that  less  than  thirty  percent  of  the  families  owned 
automobiles  at  that  time. 


20 


The  most  common  type  of  close  neighbor  in  the  strip  community  was  a 
close  relative:  a  child,  a  parent,  or  a  sibling.  Inheritance  patterns 
which  required  that  the  land  be  divided  lineally,  resulted  in 
family-owned  sections  which  sometimes  ran  for  a  mile  or  more  along  the 
bayou.  Often  such  sections  were  named  after  the  founding  family,  for 
example  Cote  Broussard  (Fig.  9). 

Social  interaction  was  intense  in  such  a  community.  The  hundred  and 
twenty  families  surveyed  by  Smith  contained  127  children  under  the  age 
of  12,  all  of  whom  were  potential  playmates.  Sixty  of  these  children 
lived  within  a  mile  of  each  house.  In  addition,  the  local  Catholic 
church  had  1,200  members.  The  elementary  school  had  220  students,  and 
the  local  high  school,  51. 

Adults,  too,  drew  most  of  their  friends  and  their  help  from  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  their  home.  Cooperative  work  parties  were 
organized  there.  Friends  and  neighbors  helped  bring  in  the  crops,  build 
structures  and  move  houses  across  the  landscape.  Such  work  was 
traditionally  paid  for  in  one  of  two  ways—usually  both.  Everyone 
recognized  the  principle  of  reciprocity  in  cooperative  work  groups. 
People  participated  cheerfully  because  they  knew  that  the  same  group 
would  be  around  to  help  them  at  a  later  time.  In  addition,  the  larger 
undertakings,  such  as  house  moving  or  house  erection,  were  compensated 
by  the  preparation  of  food  and  drink. 

The  Prairie  Settlements 

Life  on  the  prairies  in  the  nineteenth  century  was  considerably 
different  from  that  of  the  Eastern  area  of  Acadiana.  North  and  West  of 


21 


New  Iberia  and  Lafayette  and  extending  across  the  prairies  as  far  as 
Avoyelles  and  Evangeline  Parishes,  isolated  local  settlements  were  more 
common  (Figs.  5  &  6).   Settlement  density  was  low.   Here  people  often 
grouped  into  anses  or  "coves."   Small  groups  of  settlers  were  far  more 
self-sufficient  than  those  on  the  rivers.   A  much  higher  proportion  of 
items  needed  to  support  daily  life  were  produced  on  the  farmstead, 
rather  than  being  purchased.   There  was  a  concomitant  tendency  towards 
the  development  of  strong  in-group  loyalties  and  even  in-breeding. 
Cooperative  labor  such  as  the  coup  de  main  work  group  flourished  in 
this  environment. 

The  Prairie  Cajun  settlement  seems  to  have  been  somewhat  of  a 
compromise  between  the  typical  European  agricultural  village,  with  its 
advantages  of  high  social  density  and  better  services  (school,  church, 
stores),  and  the  isolated  American  farmstead  pattern  with  its  close 
proximity  to  the  fields  and  livestock. 

The  individual  houses  looked  much  like  those  of  the  river  parishes: 

The  houses  were  commonly  of  the  Creole  type;  the  fences  were  a 
yard  paling  fence,  and  field  post-and-rail  type.  In  every 
front  yard  there  was  a  chinaball,  or  chinaberry,  tree,  its 
branches  clipped  back  to  provide  firewood  and  to  thicken  the 
crown  for  better  shade  (Fig.  7). 

Many  such  communities  also  were  adjacent  to  water-ways  so  water 

transportation  was  often  available,  particularly  along  the  tributaries 

of  upper  Bayou  Teche,  the  Vermillion  and  Mermentau  Rivers.  However, 

land  transportation  was  the  only  available  method  for  many  prairie 

communities.  Roads  were  bad,  particularly  before  the  Huey  Long  era,  so 

long-distance  travel  was  difficult.  Generally,  buggies  and  farm  wagons 

were  used  whenever  a  family  travelled  together.  Isolation  was  severe. 


22 


Personal  accounts  tell  of  Cajun  farm  families  on  the  prairies 
making  only  two  or  three  long  trips  per  year.  One  of  these  was 
generally  to  the  Parish  seat;  there,  legal  business  was  conducted  and 
annual  taxes  paid.  If  the  trip  was  made  in  October,  farm  produce  was 
brought  to  market  to  be  sold  and  the  profit  from  a  year  of  difficult 
toil  was  realized.  Family  reunions,  particularly  at  weddings,  first 
communion  and  funerals  also  required  extended  trips.  Aside  from  these 
brief  periods  of  excitement,  though,  the  world  of  the  Cajun  farmer,  his 
wife  and  children  was  circumscribed  by  the  horizon  which  surrounded  the 
farm  house. 

II.  THE  RURAL  COMMUNITY 

Informal  Organization 

A  couple  of  examples  of  the  forms  of  informal  social  groupings 
typical  of  the  rural  community  are  discussed.  All  of  these  forms  were 
common  throughout  Acadiana,  however,  they  were  far  more  apparent  in  the 
areas  of  denser  settlement. 
A.  Merchants 

Most  commercial  activity  was  peripatetic.  Merchants  in  wagons 
traveled  the  roads  stopping  at  each  house  and  displaying  their  wares. 
Much  emphasis  seems  to  have  been  placed  on  what  was  new.  Novelties  in 
fabrics,  kitchen  utensils,  tools  and  notions  generated  considerable 
enthusiasm  among  Cajun  housewives  and  children.  A  secondary 
function—the  transmission  of  news  and  gossip  cannot  be  considered  a 
minor  factor  in  the  success  of  the  travelling  merchant,  ice-man,  and 


23 


tinsmith.  By  the  end  of  the  1920s,  the  itinerant  peddlar  had  been 
replaced  by  truck-borne  delivery  men  who  worked  for  local  merchants  who 
had  stores  in  Thibodaux,  Raceland,  Opelousas,  Church  Point  or  other 
local  entrep6ts.  Chickens  and  particularly  eggs  were  universally 
accepted  as  payment  for  goods  of  all  types. 

B.  Fairs 

Even  in  the  nineteenth  century,  Cajuns  loved  festivals  and  fairs. 

In  the  early  days,  many  such  fairs  were  sponsored  by  churches.  Later, 

civic  organizations  began  to  organize  larger  festivals,  centered  around 

local  products  or  events.  To  the  rural  family,  the  festival  was  the 

social  highlight  of  the  year. 

Within  the  neighborhood,  the  annual  church  fair  is  a  time  of 
great  celebration.  Two  days  of  festivities,  Saturday  and  . 
Sunday,  with  dances  each  night  constitute  the  proceedings. 
Literally  every  one  attends,  male  and  female,  young  and  old, 
well-to-do  and  poor,  owner,  tenant,  and  laborer,  all  are 
there.  In  addition,  the  whole-hearted  enjoyment  arising  from 
the  frequent  assemblages  of  friends  and  relatives,  gives 
recreation  within  the  settlement  a  tone  similar  to  that  of  the 
recreation  characteristic  of  the  village  community  (Smith 
1934:  687). 

A  list  of  Festivals  in  Acadiana  may  be  found  in  the  Louisiana 

Folklife  Guide  (pp.  331-337). 

C.  Bala 

Alcee  Fortier  gives  a  description  of  an  Acadian  bal  CDuplantier 
1981:  192--described  in  the  1880s].  A  planter  friend  took  Fortier  to 
the  country.  They  arrived  at  8:00  p.m.  at  a  large  house  with  galleries 
all  around.  People  were  already  dancing  to  the  music  of  three  fiddlers 
when  the  two  "Creoles"  arrived.  No  admission  fee  was  charged  them  and 


24 


this  amazed  Fortier.  He  was  informed  that  only  decently  dressed,  white 
people  could  get  in  free,  but  those  admitted  were  obviously  expected  to 
buy  their  drinks  from  the  proprietor.  Beer,  lemonade  and  coffee  were 
the  refreshments  served.  At  midnight/  supper  was  served;  It  was  a 
chicken  gumbo  with  rice,  the  national  Creole  dish.  The  men  seemed 
ill-at-ease  to  Fortier,  but  the  women  caught  his  eye.  They  were 
elegant,  well-dressed  and  exceedingly  handsome  with  large,  soft  black 
eyes  and  black  hair.  French  was  spoken  by  all,  but  occasionally  English 
was  heard. 

Fortier  got  to  see  the  pare  aux  petits,  where  a  number  of  children 
were  sleeping  in  a  bed.  A  gambling  room  also  attracted  his  attention.  A 
dozen  men  were  playing  cards. . .non-professionals.  Out  in  the  back  by  a 
barn,  six  men  were  gambling  seriously  by  candlelight.  These  were  the 
black  sheep  of  the  group. 

The  two  gentlemen  visitors  had  enough  by  1:00  a.m.,  but  the  dance 

went  on  until  4:00  or  5:00  in  the  morning.  The  musicians  played  until 

the  end,  or  at  least  stayed  on,  since  they  announced  the  end  of  the 

dance  by  firing  a  pistol  in  the  air  several  times  and  crying  out,  *Le 

bal  est  finil    Lauren  Post  describes  the  following,  concerning  a  bal 

(1962:175- 

77)  In  the  1890s. 

Marie  Schexnaidre  lived  in  Martin  Duralde  vacherie  in  Acadia 
Parish,  just  north  of  Rayne.  She  lived  at  a  time  when  the  old 
features  of  Acadian  life  were  still  in  vogue,  but  when  new 
features  were  coming  in...  She  wrote,  'I  attended  a  ball.' 
Then  she  proceeded  to  list  122  of  them,  giving  dates,  places 
(by  the  name  of  the  owner  of  home  or  halx),  and  the  occasion 
for  the  special  dances.  Most  of  them  were  week-end  dances,  but 
there  were  the  usual  holiday  dances  for  Mardi  Gras,  Easter, 
and  other  such  occasions.  Special  dances  were  the  wedding 
balls  which  usually  came  in  the  fall  of  the  year.  For  some  of 


25 


these  she  was  maid  of  honor.  Further  along-- 'I  danced 

with' --and  she  listed  187  men  and  boys.  Apparently  she  names  a 

man  only  when  she  danced  with  him  for  the  first  time. 

Formal  Organization 

Several  patterns  of  continuing  relations  were  formally  recognized 

in  Cajun  communities.  These  were  based  primarily  on  wealth  and  land 

ownership/  on  religion  and  on  race.  Other  factors  such  as  education  and 

profession  played  roles  as  well.  Here  we  shall  outline  only  one  of 

these  institutions,  though  research  should  be  conducted  on  any  of  them 

considered  for  special  treatment  in  the  Cajun  cultural  centers. 

Economic  Stratification 

Perhaps  the  major  factor  in  the  determination  of  a  family's 
position  in  the  community  was  its  economic  basis.  Since  most  Cajun 
communities  were  virtually  without  industry,  wealth  was  generated 
either  through  commercial  enterprises  or  through  agricultural  pursuits. 
As  of  about  1940,  the  following  figures  are  probably  about  average  for 
rural  Acadiana  (drawn  from  census  material).  Approximately  77%  of  the 
residents  of  Acadian  parishes  lived  on  farms,  more  in  the  west  than  in 
eastern  Acadiana.  About  76%  of  the  working  people  worked  on  farms.  The 
next  most  important  occupation  was  wholesale  and  retail  trade,  with 
about  7%  of  the  total  people  employed,  then  domestic  help  with  slightly 
over  5%  (Pelligrin  1949:96).  All  other  occupations  employed  3%  or  less, 
with  fishing  and  forestry  exploitation  being  the  most  important. 

Fifty  to  sixty  percent  of  the  total  land  area  of  Acadiana  was 
occupied  by  farmland.  However,  only  about  345!  of  the  total  number  of 
farmers  in  Acadiana  (10  parishes  studied)  owned  their  own  farms  in 


26 


1939.  This  figure  is  somewhat  higher  for  Cajuns,  as  black  families  are 
also  included  in  the  statistics  for  farm  ownership.  A  majority  of  66% 
of  all  farmers  operated  as  tenant  farmers  in  1939.  Only  twenty  years 
later,  in  1959,  these  figures  had  almost  reversed  themselves.  A  full 
60%  of  the  full-time  farmers  in  Acadiana  owned  part  or  all  of  their  own 
farms,  while  40%  operated  as  tenants.  This  represents  a  considerable 
economic  achievement  in  only  two  decades. 

The  mode  of  tenancy  lead  to  a  considerable  disparity  in  wealth 
commanded  by  individual  families.  For  the  most  part  tenants  worked  in 
one  of  two  ways.  Cash  tenants  rented  their  farms  for  cash  and  took  the 
total  of  whatever  profits  they  could  earn.  Most  tenants,  however,  could 
not  afford  the  heavy  initial  cash  outlay.  They  operated  as  share 
tenants  who  supplied  labor  and  who  received  approximately  half  of  their 
products.  The  high  number  of  Acadian  tenant  farmers  in  1939  is 
surprising  in  light  of  the  fact  that  Louisiana  had  much  land  to  give 
away  and  that  originally  the  Acadian  families  had  been  given  large 
amounts  of  land  for  absolutely  nothing.  However,  during  the  civil  war, 
severe  economic  stresses  drove  many  families  from  their  land  or  deeply 
into  debt.  Many  lost  their  farms.  It  is  encouraging  to  see  that 
industrious  Cajuns  who  were  willing  to  work  as  farmers  were  able  to 
regain  the  status  of  farm  owners  in  such  a  short  period. 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  the  economic  bases  of  eastern 
(riverine)  Acadiana  and  western  (prairie)  Acadiana  in  respect  to  its 
economic  practices.  In  five  eastern  parishes  of  Acadiana  in  1939 
(Assumption,  Iberia,  Lafourche,  St.  James  and  Terrebone),  only  4336 
farms  existed.  Most  of  the  population  worked  in  non-  farm  occupations. 


27 


Of  those  who  did  farm,  57%  owned  a  part  or  all  of  their  farms.  In  five 
western  parishes  of  Acadiana  in  the  same  year  (Acadia/  Evangeline, 
Lafayette,  St.  Landry  and  St.  Martin),  22,297  farms  existed,  of  which 
only  30%  were  owned  by  the  person  who  worked  it.  In  other  words,  70%  of 
the  prairie  parish  farmers 
were  tenant  farmers  in  that  year. 

In  the  year  1959,  however  the  number  of  privately  owned  farms  had 
risen  to  77%  in  the  east.  In  the  west,  57%  of  the  farms  were  now 
privately  owned.  The  total  number  of  privately  owned  farms  increased  by 
9%  in  that  period,  while  the  total  number  of  tenant  farmers  decreased 
62%  in  the  same  period.  The  Cajun  farmer  was  better  off  than  he  had 
been  a  mere  two  decades  before.  A  large  number  of  Cajuns  had  entered 
the  non-farm  work  force.  Indeed,  by  1980,  36%  of  Cajun  families  now  had 
working  wives.  Family  income  had  risen  substantially  and  housing 
conditions  had  also  improved.  However,  Cajuns  were  still  not  quite  as 
well  off  as  Creoles  and  those  of  Anglo  descent,  on  the  average.  In  1970 
the  median  family  income  in  Evangeline  and  Avoyelles  parishes  averaged 
less  than  $4,600.00  per  annum,  the  lowest  rate  in  the  state  (see 
attached  map) . 

Most  Cajuns,  particularly  the  poorer  families,  augmented  their  farm 
incomes  with  subsistence  hunting  and  gathering.  Even  today,  many  Cajun 
men  hunt,  fish  and  trap  fifty  or  more  days  per  year.  A  chart  of  the 
seasonal  round  is  provided  as  an  example  of  the  kinds  of  subsistence 
activities  which  occur  in  the  Atchafalaya  basin  throughout  the  year. 
The  same  activities  in  other  portions  of  Louisiana  may  vary  in  specific 
times  and  places.  The  enclosed  charts  were  derived  from  the  research  of 


26 


Malcolm  Comeaux.  Specific  dates  based  on  state  regulations  in  1980  are 
included. 

A  Chart  Of  The  Seasonal  Round 

A  charts  illustrating  the  seasonal  round  is  recommended.  The  chart 
depicts  the  hunting,  fishing,  trapping  and  recreational  round.  Use  the 
two  diagram  included  here  as  a  base,  but  an  artist  will  have  to 
redesign  it  somewhat.  The  hunting  and  fishing  dates  may  be  adjusted  to 
the  current  year's  regulations,  but  these  change  annually.  In  my 
opinion  it  would  be  better  to  use  approximate  traditional  dates  in  the 
chart,  and  include  a  note  specifying  that  specific  dates  change  from 
year  to  year. 

Several  of  the  important  dates  for  HUNTING  IN  THE  ATCHAFALAYA  BASIN 
to  be  included  (1987  regulations  only): 


Deer,  no  dogs: 

Deer,  dogs 

Turkey 

Squirrel 

Rabbits 

Frogs 

Trapping  (Nutria) 

Duck,  Coots 

Geese 


Nov.  21  -  29 

Dec.  5  -  May  17 

Mar.  26  -  April  24 

Oct.  3  -  Jan  17  (all  year) 

Oct.  3  -  Feb  28  (all  year) 

Mostly  June-July 

Dec.  -  Feb.  28 

Nov.  21  -  Dec.  1,  Dec.  29  -  Jan  18 

Nov.  22  -  Jan.  30 


Alligator  (commercial)  Sept.  5  -  Oct.  5 

Shrimping  (commercial)  Aug.  17  -  Dec.  21 

Crabbing  (commercial)  June  15  -  Sept.  30 

Crawfishing  (commercial)  Feb.  10  -  June  10 


29 


Folklife  Guide 


*<*« 


J*HV4 


Atchafalaya     Basin    annual    work    cycle:    chart    by 
Malcolm  Comeaux 


Salomone,  Jerry.  "MississippiRiverBax Pilotage: 
The  Development  of  An  Occupation."  Louisiana 
Studies.  6{1)(1976):  39-52. 

Schexnider,  Ray.  Personal  communication,  1982. 

Stoddard.  Amos.  Sketches  Historical  and  Descrip- 
tive of  Louisiana.  Claitor's.  Baton  Rouge,  1974. 
Originally  published  by  M.  Carey,  Philadelphia. 
1812. 


Stokes,  George  A.  "The  Day  The  Whistle  Didn't 
Blow:  Folklife  Resources  in  theLouisianaTimber 
Industry."  Louisiana  Folklife.  6(2)(  1981):  1-42 

Vujnovich.  Milos  M.  Yugoslavs  In  Louisiana. 
Pelican  Publishing,  New  Orleans,  1974. 

Williamson,  Frederick  W.  Northeast  Louisiana. 
Historical  Record  Association,  Monroe,  1939. 


o 

2 

Q. 

a. 
< 

q: 


n — i — i — i — i — I    . '  i    ■ — i     ■  v 


burn  morih  (nutria) 


CD 


'yrv    Ifaoi 

DM! 

•  •II   poll! 

n    em 

rotriov*   iropt 

cloon/oil   iroP) 

■ 

~i r 


l — i — : — r*n — r 

wolk  let  out 

mm 

burn  martS  (ratt) 


l««l«J.n,,a| 

(bt     toltt 

m 

intpoct    trqpi 

rvn   iropt 
••II  polfi 


~}      t       I — i — i i i I — r 

buy     liconco 

'PQ'T/point  boot 
'toa^/inoU  t f a  m i 
od|u»i    •quip./tn<ai    cool* 

Irowlintj    -intToro 


o 

X 
CO 

UL 

cc 

Ul 

r- 

o 


'outlawing' 
loituro 


cUan  boot 


const    n*w    boot 


1 r 


l     .   I     ..' 1 1— i 1 r- 

bur    lm<ii«/|„,t   oopl.cet.ont 
miock    oyitori  Irom   not*   btci 


'»"  ■  point   boot  &  oauip. 

build    piroQUC* 


bod   no»   ttock 
'•-bod   lot  eyilort 
•  oek  -  th.p 


plont  culler.  -  l.nd    b.d. 


°>''"  'ts'ta   ger.ed 


Three  principal   components  of  the  marshdweller's 
seasonal   regime     (SourcerPierce:   1979) 


33 


PART  V  FOLKLIFE 


35 


ACADIAN  FOLK  LIFE  IH  THE  NINETEEKTH  CEHTURY,  CA.  1840-CA.  1900 

Carl  A.  Brasseaux 

The  development  of  Acadian  society  in  the  mid-to-late  nineteenth 
century  has  been  almost  completely  neglected  by  historians.   What 
little  is  knovn  about  the  era  is  based  primarily  upon  travelogues, 
written  by  outsiders  who  were  generally  interested  only  in  the  more 
exotic  aspects  of  local  life.   Almost  without  exception,  these 
observers  failed  to  comprehend  the  complexity  of  Acadian  society  and 
therefore  totally  ignored  all  but  the  most  impoverished  strata  of  the 
community.    This  article  thus  necessarily  reflects  the  focus  of  these 
primary  source  accounts. 

Despite  the  emergence  of  distinctive  socio-economic  groups  within 
the  antebellum  Cajun  community,  members  of  the  lower  social  strata  of 
Acadian  society,  particularly  yeoman  farmers  and  petit  habitants 
(subsistence  farmers),  shared  a  life  style,  language,  and  values  little 
different  from  those  of  their  more  egalitarian  forebears.   The  survival 
of  traditional  Acadian  culture  was  a  direct  result  of  Cajun  social 
institutions  and  agricultural  practices,  which  promoted  economic 
self-sufficiency  and  group  solidarity. 

This  is  not  to  say  that  the  Acadians  were  hostile  to  strangers. 
Early  nineteenth-century  travellers  who  visited  Cajun  homes 
consistently  praised  Acadian  hospitalilty.   But,  though  the  outsider 
was  welcome,  his  materialistic  values,  strange  customs, 
competitiveness,  and  preoccupation  with  business  were  not,  at  least 
among  the  poorer  classes.   Indeed,  most  Acadian  yeomen  and  petit 


37 


habitants  flatly  rejected  American  ideals,  preferring  instead  their 
fathers'  precapitalist ic  values  and  folkways. 

This  value  system  is  vividly  reflected  in  all  aspects  of 
traditional  Acadian  life.   In  agriculture,  for  example,  Alcee  Fortier, 
prominent  turn-of-the-century  Louisiana  historian,  noted  that 
postbellun  Cajuns  vere  "laborious,  but  they  appear  to  be  satisfied,  if 
by  cultivating  their  patch  of  ground  vith  their  sons,  they  manage  to 
live  vith  a  little  comfort. ■   The  1850  agricultural  census  indicates 
that  although  the  typical  yeoman  vas  capable  of  tilling  fifteen  acres 
of  land,  most  farmers  cultivated  only  four  to  twelve  acres,  depending 
upon  the  needs  of  their  families  and  the  number  of  sons  in  the  family 
labor  pool.   Indeed,  of  the  ninety  Cajun  farms  listed  in  the  1850 
agricultural  census  of  Terrebonne  Parish,  only  twenty-three  boasted 
more  than  fifteen  cultivated  acres. 

Such  small-scale  farming  obligated  the  Acadian  farmer  to  engage  in 
seasonal  occupations  to  support  his  family.   Plowing,  planting,  hoeing, 
mending  of  fences,  branding  of  calves  and  seasonal  relocation  of  his 
herd,  which  usually  grazed  on  public  lands  throughout  the  cooler 
portion  of  the  year,  to  summer  pasturage,  filled  the  farmer's  spring 
and  early  summer  days.   The  comparatively  inactive  summer,  and  early 
fall  growing  season  provided  the  petit  habitant  with  the  opportunity  to 
undertake  extended  hunting  and  fishing  expeditions.   These  hunting 
forays,  which  occasionally  ranged  as  far  as  the  central  Atchafalaya 
Basin  and  the  Gulf  Coast  and  which  endured  as  long  as  two  weeks, 
furnished  Cajun  families  with  small  quantities  of  fresh  meat,  thus 
minimizing  the  need  to  slaughter  domesticated  livestock  which,  in  the 


38 


prairie  parishes,  ranged  without  supervision  on  unclaimed  prairie 
lands,  in  the  sultry  summer  months  vhen  fresh  and  even  salted  meat 
spoiled  quickly. 

Cool  veather  signalled  the  herd's  return  to  winter  pasturage, 
usually  in  vooded  areas,  as  veil  as  the  beginning  of  the  harvest 
season.   The  harvest  on  the  Acadian  frontier  vas  a  communal  undertaking 
in  vhich  all  members  of  the  household,  as  veil  as  "large  numbers"  of 
male  and  female  ramasseurs  participated.   The  fruits  of  each  field 
were  gathered  in  turn,  and  vorkers  frequently  labored  "by  moonlight"  to 
"pick  .  .  .  every  boll  of  cotton. "   Despite  the  long  hours,  the 
ramasserie  ,  or  communal  harvest,  took  on  a  festive  atmosphere.   One 
observer  noted  that  the  vorkers,  vho  vere  provided  large  quantities  of 
gateaux  de  syrop.  coffee,  and  vhiskey  by  the  host  family,  punctuated 
the  monotony  of  cotton-picking  vith  "shouts  of  joy,  songs,  and  animated 
talk. " 

The  ramasserie  vas  nevertheless  a  serious  undertaking,  as 
manifested  in  the  long  vork  days,  for  the  corn,  Irish  potatoes,  sveet 
potatoes,  peas,  beans,  pumpkins,  okra,  and  rice  produced  on  the  small 
farms  constituted  the  farmers'  main  source  of  sustenance  in  the 
upcoming  year.   Products  of  the  family  farm  vere  supplemented  by 
home-grovn  fruit,  vild  game  and  domestic  livestock.   Pork  production  in 
the  bayou  and  river  parishes,  as  veil  as  beef  production  in  the  prairie 
parishes  served  as  the  petit  habitants'  principal  source  of  meat. 
Travellers'  accounts,  hovever,  indicate  that  fresh  beef  and  pork,  as 
veil  as  old  and  unproductive  hens  and  roosters  served  far  less 
frequently  than  eggs,  salk  pork,  and  vild  game. 


39 


Blessed  vith  such  a  broad  variety  of  foods,  the  Acadian  cook  had 

little  need  for  store-bought  products.   In  fact,  vith  the  exception  of 

small  quantities  of  flour,  vhich  could  not  be  produced  locally, 

cuisinieres  relied  exclusively  upon  hone-grown  vegetables.   The  dishes 

vhich  they  prepared  (and  vhich  vould  nov  be  called  "soul  food")  vere 

remarkably  similar  to  those  consumed  by  poor  whites  throughout  the  Deep 

South.   Frederick  Lav  Olmsted,  the  famous  Nev  York  landscape  architect 

vho  toured  Louisiana  tvice  in  the  1850s,  recalled  in  his  travelogs 

meals  served  to  him  by  an  Acadian  family  in  St.  Landry  Parish: 

Upon  the  supper-table,  ve  found  tvo  vashbovls,  one  filled 
vith  milk,  the  other  for  molasses.   We  asked  for  water, 
vhich  vas  given  us  in  a  battered  tin  cup.   The  dishes, 
besides  the  bacon  and  bread,  vere  fried  eggs  and  sweet 
potatoes.   The  bowl  of  molasses  stood  in  the  centre  of  the 
table,  and  we  were  pressed  to  partake  of  it,  as  the  family 
.  did,  by  dipping  in  it  bits  of  bread.   But  how  it  was 
expected  to  be  used  at  breakfast,  when  we  had  bacon  and 
potatoes,  with  spoons,  but  no  bread,  I  cannot  imagine. 

Though  milk  and  bread  were  delicacies  reserved  for  celebrations  and 
special  guests,  meals  vere,  as  Olmsted  suggests,  rather  mundane 
gastronomical  experiences,  noteworthy  only  for  their  monotonous  lack  of 
variety.   Cornbread,  boiled  Irish  potatoes,  baked  sveet  potatoes,  fresh 
peas  or  beans,  and  meat  (fresh  meat  in  summer  and  salted  meat  during 
winter)  or  wild  game  were  the  mainstays  of  the  nineteenth  century 
Acadian  diet.   The  meat  of  semi-wild,  grass-fed  longhorn  cattle,  wild 
game,  and  old  chickens  was  invariably  tough  and  thus  required  lengthy 
cooking  for  tenderization.   Salted  meats  required  extensive  boiling, 
usually  vith  Irish  potatoes,  to  reduce  high  sodium-chloride  levels. 

The  extensive  use  of  boiling  techniques  in  the  preparation  of 
foods,  the  legacy  of  colonial  Acadian  cuisine,  reflects  the  adaptation 


40 


of  traditional  Acadian  dishes  to  Louisiana  products,  hence  the 
appearance  of  roux-based  stevs,  gumbos,  and  gravies.   Boiling  vater  vas 
also  used  in  the  preparation  of  small  quantities  of  home-grown 
providence  rice,  for  jambalaya;  for  corn  soup,  a  dish  quite  similar  to 
traditional  Acadian  fricot;  and  for  crayfish,  vhich  vere  harvested  in 
maraises  on  meatless  lenten  days.   Also  boiled,  usually  in  gumbos,  vere 
saltvater  shellfish  caught  during  coastal  hunting  and  fishing  forays  by 
Acadian  farmers  from  the  lover  prairies  and  the  Lafourche  area. 
Finally,  although  not  mentioned  in  antebellum  travel  accounts,  boudin 
and  hogshead  cheese  undoubtedly  constituted  minor  rungs  in  traditional 
Cajun  cuisine  and  vere  probably  produced  only  during  vinter 
boucheries.   Like  other  products  of  the  early  Cajun  kitchen,  these 
delicacies  vere  cooked  in  boiling  vater.   Boiling  techniques  vere 
dictated  not  only  by  the  toughness  of  locally  produced  meats, 
agricultural  produce,  and  the  game,  but  also  by  extant  cooking 
technology  as  veil.   Lacking  funds  for  the  acquisition  of  Dutch  ovens, 
the  overvhelming  majority  of  Cajun  cooks  prepared  meals  in  kettles 
suspended  above  the  hearth.   Frying  pans  vere  quite  scarce  in 
mid-nineteenth  century  Acadian  homes  and  appear  to  have  been  used 
primarily  to  cook  couche-couche  (fried  corn  meal)  and  to  bake 
cornbread. 

Acadian  adaptability  and  reliance  upon  locally  produced  materials 
vas  also  evidenced  in  nineteenth-century  clothing  production.   In 
Acadian  households  on  both  sides  of  the  Atchafalaya,  Acadian  vomen  and 
children  vent  into  the  fields  to  gather  yellov  cotton,  produced  in 
small  quantities  on  the  family  farm.   Following  the  harvest,  cotton 


M 


seeds  were  removed  from  the  lint  either  by  hand  cards  or  with 
primitive,  pre-Whitney  cotton  gins,  closely  resembling  the  wringer 
mechanisms  on  early  washing  machines.   Women,  assisted  by  their 
daughters,  then  spun  cotton  fibers  into  threads,  vhich  vere  ultimately 
voven  into  cottonade  on  the  family  loom.   In  some  areas,  particularly 
in  the  prairie  region,  small  quantities  of  cotton  fiber  vere  carded  and 
combined  vith  vool  for  the  manufacture  of  a  heavyveight  vinter  cloth 
called  jeture  de  laine.   Summer  and  vinter  fabrics  vere  then  dyed  blue, 
vhite,  red,  brovn,  and  black  vith  natural  dyes  either  produced  on  the 
family  habitation  or  gathered  in  the  neighboring  voods,  and  then 
fashioned  into  clothing. 

Clothing  styles  remained  remarkably  static  among  petit  habitants 
throughout  the  nineteenth  century.   At  the  davn  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  the  typical  man's  outfit  consisted  of  knee-length  pants, 
called  braquettes,  cottonade  shirts  and  jackets,  and  capots, heavy  outer 
coats  vith  long  tails  vorn  for  formal  occasions.   Headgear  consisted  of 
hand- voven  palmetto  hats.   With  the  exception  of  men's  pants,  vhich 
became  ankle-length  garments  by  the  1860s,  this  outfit  served  as  the 
basic  male  costume  throughout  the  antebellum  and  Civil  War  years.   Only 
vith  the  coming  of  the  railroad  in  the  1880s  and  the  simultaneous 
introduction  of  large,  affordable  quantities  of  manufactured  cloth,  did 
cottonade  garments  begin  to  fade  from  use,  at  least  in  the  portion  of 
Acadiana  vest  of  the  Atchafalaya. 

Like  its  male  counterpart,  the  female  costume  changed  little  during 
the  early  nineteenth  century.   This  distinctive  mode  of  dress  is 
described  in  great  detail  by  the  so-called  Anonymous  Breaux  Manuscript 


kZ 


(attributed  to  Chief  Justice  Joseph  A.  Breaux): 

The  women  used  to  be  dressed  in  very  bright  materials,  vith 
varied  and  often  clashing  hues.   The  skirts  were  made  of 
voolen  cloth  vith  red,  yellov,  violet,  and  green  stripes; 
voolen  or  cotton  stockings  vere  grey  or  vhite.   A  corset 
[the  upper  portion  of  the  dress]  vas  made  vith  material 
different  from  that  of  the  skirt.   This  garment  allowed  the 
real  corset,  vhich  vas  usually  dyed  red,  to  be  seen  above 
the  belt.  This  outfit  vas  complemented  by  either  vide-striped, 
and  brilliantly  colored  kerchiefs,  or,  more  commonly, 
qarde-soleils.  cotton  sun  bonnets  vith  a  barbe.  or 
shoulder-length  sunshade. 

In  addition  to  their  ovn  clothes,  Acadian  women  produced  clothing 
for  their  children.   Before  the  Civil  War,  "children  of  both  sexes  vore 
a  dress  vith  a  catch  at  the  back.   Boys  vore  neither  breeches  nor 
trousers  before  six  or  seven  years. ■  Children  vere  also  not  permitted 
to  vear  moccasins  or  cantiers  until  the  age  of  "ten  or  tvelve. " 

All  of  the  materials  used  in  the  domestic  manufacture  of  clothing, 
except  for  small  quantites  of  calico,  vere  the  product  of  home 
industries.   Acadian  home  manufactures,  hovever,  vere  not  confined  to 
clothing.   Acadian  vomen  also  produced  fine  mosquito  netting,  cotton 
sheets,  cotton  blankets,  cotton  and  vool  quilts,  and  cotton  bed  shirts. 

Footvear  vas  also  produced  at  home  vith  domestically  grovn 
materials.   Along  Bayou  Lafourche,  Acadians  vore  sabots  (vooden  shoes) 
until  the  Civil  War.   River  and  prairie  Acadian  vomen  vore  covhide  and 
deerskin  moccasins,  vhile  men  vore  cantiers,  moccasins  vith  knee-length 
leather  leggings.   Use  of  this  footvear  persisted  among  poorer  Cajuns 
until  the  late  nineteenth  century.   In  more  affluent  circles,  Acadian 
vomen  used  revenues  from  the  sale  of  eggs  and  other  barnyard  products 
to  purchase  "shoes  brought  from  the  East  or  imported  from  England  and 
France. ■     Shoes  vere  a  "luxury"  and,  except  for  church  services  and 


*o 


formal  occasions,  such  as  weddings  and  funerals,  Acadians  vent 
barefoot.   According  to  Dr.  Alfred  Duperier,  Acadian  *girls  going  to 
church,  or  to  a  ball,  vould  often  carry  their  shoes  in  hand,  to  be  vorn 
only  when  they  reached  their  destination.   At  home  the  shoes  were 
carefully  hung  from  the  ceiling. ■     The  reverence  vith  vhich  Cajun 
women  cared  for  their  shoes  also  extended  to  their  best  dress. 
According  to  Alexandre  Barde,  Acadian  vomen  kept  in  the  family  armoire 
a  special  hand-made  dress,  mantilla,  gloves,  and  cheap  jewelry  for 
social  gatherings,  particularly  bals  de  maisons. 

Though  the  fabrication  and  care  of  clothing  and  shoes  fell  clearly 
vithin  the  female  sphere  of  activities,  construction  of  implements, 
vagons,  furniture,  and  homes  fell  decidedly  vithin  the  male  domain. 
Throughout  the  antebellum  period,  Cajun  farmers  relied  exclusively  upon 
home-made  agricultural  implements,  particularly   ox-dravn  vooden  plows 
and  harrows.   Also  made  by  petit  habitants  vere  ox-carts  for  the 
transportation  of  hay,  corn,  and  cotton.   In  addition,  though  Cajun  men 
traveled  on  horseback,  Acadian  vomen  utilized  horse-dravn  caleches, 
gigs  vhose  frames,  body,  vheels,  axles,  leather  harness,  tracings,  and 
shock  absorbers,  even  the  feather  cushions,  vere  all  produced  by  hand 
on  Cajun  habitations.   The  use  of  home-grovn  products  also 
characterized  construction  of  Acadian  homes,  barns,  furniture,  and 
fences.   In  the  dry  fall  months,  Cajun  farmers  in  waterbottom  areas 
would  fell  cypress  trees  along  their  swampy  back  property  lines,  and 
then  haul  the  timber  to  building  sites  with  teams  of  oxen.    Having 
reached  their  destination,  the  logs  were  split  and  fashioned  into 
building  timbers.   Assisted  by  friends  and  neighbors,  the  builder  then 


44 


erected  a  frame,  of  peg  and  mortise  construction,  upon  cypress 

log-pillars.   The  makeshift  carpenters  then  manufactured  natural 

insulation  for  the  vails,  described  belov: 

Into  the  studding  were  placed  pine,  extending  from  one  to  the 
other,  horizontally,  and  about  ten  inches  apart.   The  long 
grey  moss  of  the  country  vas  then  gathered  and  throvn  by 
layers  into  a  pit  dug  for  the  purpose,  with  the  soil  until  the 
pit  vas  full,  vhen  vater  vas  added  in  sufficient  quantities  to 
vet  the  moss  through;  this  done,  all  vho  are  assisting  in 
construction  of  the  house—men,  vomen,  boys  and  girls—jump  in 
upon  it,  and  continue  to  tramp  until  mud  and  moss  are 
completely  intermingled  .  .  .  ,  vhen  it  is  gathered  together 
and  made  into  rolls  about  tvo  feet  long. 

Rolls  of  mud-and-moss  insulation,  called  bousillaqe.  vere  then  laid 
over  the  pins,  beginning  vith  the  lovest,  and  upon  completion  of  the 
task,  the  facade  and  interior  vails  vere  smoothed  by  hand  or  shovel. 
The  cypress  shingle  roof  and  cypress  veather  boards  vere  then  installed 
to  protct  the  vaddle  from  the  elements.   Only  under  the  ubiquitous 
front  gallery  vas  the  bousillaqe  exposed  to  viev;  a  protective  coating 
of  vhitevash  vas  applied  to  the  facade. 

Upon  completion,  the  Cajun  house,  vhich,  among  the  petit  habitants, 
remained  a  small,  one-room,  rectangular,  raised  structure,  vith  a 
qarconniere.  throughout  the  antebellum  period  and  veil  into  the 
postbellum  era,  vas  surrounded  by  a  double  pieux.  or  cypress  post, 
fence.   The  outer  fence  enclosed  both  a  barnyard  and  a  small,  square 
maqasin  of  poteaux-en-terre  construction  vhich  served  the  small  farmer 
as  a  barn.   A  second,  cypress  picket  fence  surrounded  the  house, 
preventing  hens  from  nesting  beneath  the  structure.   The  one-room  house 
vas  modestly  furnished  vith  cypress  furniture.   Though  the  vails  vere 
profusely  decorated  vith  religious  pictures  and  commercial 
advertisements  (to  keep  the  vind  from  bloving  through  cracks  betveen 


^5 


the  boards),  the  structure  itself  usually  contained  only  one  buffet, 
one  table,  four  to  six  chairs,  one  armoire,  one  permanent  bed,  and 
several  small,  roll-avay  beds. 

The  tremendous  amount  of  labor  required  to  build,  insulate,  and 
furnish  an  antebellum  home  required  the  cooperation  of  several 
neighboring  households.   On  the  Acadian  frontier,  such  assitance  vas 
readily  given  without  expectation  of  financial  compensation. 
Participation  in  a  house-raising  party,  however,  vas  not  without 
compensation.   One  observer  indicates  that  "copious  refreshments  and  a 
heavy  meal  cooked  on  the  spot  by  the  womenfolk  are  the  reward  for  their 
service. ■ 

The  group  cohesiveness  manifested  in  Acadian  "house  raisings"  also 
typified  other  Cajun  social  institutions,  such  as  boucheries  and  bals 
de  maison.    By  bringing  together  isolated  frontiersmen  for  practical 
purposes,  social  events  served  the  function  of  frequently  reinforcing 
socio-cultural  bonds  between  members  of  the  Acadian  community.   Such 
reinforcement  was  necessary  because  fist-fights,  particularly  on 
election  day,  all  too  frequently  marred  the  tranquility  of  the  South 
Louisiana  frontier.   It  is  thus  significant  that  rural  settlers 
regularly  participated  in  neighborhood  folk  dances,  with  neighbors 
sponsoring  the  gatherings  on  a  rotating  basis. 

This  high  level  of  participation  in  the  weekly  dances  is  especially 
important  because  invitations  were  not  issued  on  an  individual  basis. 
On  the  contrary,  "a  youth  on  his  pony  would  take  a  small  wand,  and  tie 
to  its  top  end  a  red  or  white  flag,  and  ride  up  and  down  the  bayou, 
from  the  house  where  the  ball  was  intended,  for  two  or  three  miles; 


46 


returning,  tied  the  vand  .  .  .  above  the  gate  informing  all — 'This  is 
the  place  ."  All  neighboring  settlers  vere  welcome,  and  thus 
attendance  vas  inevitably  heavy.   The  participants,  clad  in  their 
finest  attire,  consistently  maintained  their  best  behavior,  and  even 
Acadian  detractors  conceded  that  "nothing  boisterous  vas  ever  knovn"  at 
these  Cajun  house  dances. 

The  primary  function  of  the  bal  de  maison  vas,  of  course, 
entertainment,  but  dances  also  served  as  a  means  of  regularly 
utilizing,  and  thus  preserving,  the  Acadians'  traditional  music, 
cuisine,  dances,  and  language.   Like  the  bal  de  maison  ,  the 
boucherie  ,  or  rural  butchery,  served  a  dual  role  vithin  Acadian 
society;  as  vith  the  rural  dances,  sponsorship  of  the  butchery  vas  on  a 
rotating  basis,   and  all  members  of  the  Acadian  community  vithin  a 
small  geographic  area  participated.   Though  boucheries  provided  the 
participants  vith  a  continuous  supply  of  fresh  meat  in  an  age  vithout 
refrigeration,  the  regular  meetings  gave  distant  neighbors  the 
opportunity  to  renev  acquaintances  and  to  exchange  vievs,  thereby 
periodically  reinforcing  the  participants'  sense  of  group  identity. 
Acadian  community  spirit  vas  also  undergirded  by  frequent  nocturnal 
visits,  or  veillees.   In  these  visits,  vhich  vere  alvays  held  in  the 
idle  vinter  months  after  the  evening  meal,  hosts  and  visitors  divided 
themselves  into  groups  by  sex  and  ages.   While  men  carved  "vooden 
utensils,  repaired  their  farm  tools  and  made  baskets, "  vomen 
manufactured  thread,  repaired  torn  clothing,  and  cared  for  the  children 
vho  clustered  around  them.   Though  the  conversation  vas  inevitably 
dominated  by  males,  the  usual  topic  of 


4? 


conversation  was  not  politics  or  agriculture,  but  folk  tales.   As  the 
fireplace  cast  flickering  shadows  across  the  one-room  cabane,  fathers 
recounted  miraculous  cures  by  local  traiteurs  (folk  faith  healers),  or 
personal  encounters  with  sabbats  and  feu-follets. 

Though  intended  to  relieve  the  monotony  of  frontier  life  during  the 
idle  and  dreary  winter  months  which  were  punctuated  only  by  festive 
Christmas,  New  Year's  Day,  and  Mardi  Gras  celebrations,  veillees  also 
served  as  the  medium  for  preserving  Acadian  folk  beliefs.   Folkways  and 
superstitions  were  not  merely  a  conspicuous  part  of  Cajun  oral 
tradition;  on  the  contrary,  they  constituted  an  integral  part  of 
everyday  Acadian  life.   Poor  crops  or  livestock  epidemics  were 
typically  attributed  to  a  sorcerer's  spell.   Omens  also  foretold  good 
or. ill  fortune,  while  phases  of  the  moon  dictated  the  proper  time  for 
cutting  hair,  and  religious  feast  days  signalled  the  outset  of  the 
planting  season.   Finally,  most  petit  habitants  firmly  believed  in 

faith  healing. 

The  most  dominating  institutions  in  Cajun  "folk  theology-  were 
traiteurs  and  sorcerers.   Combining  elements  of  mysticism  and  Catholic 
dogma,  traiteurs  and  sorcerers  practiced  a  unique  brand  of  folk 
medicine  in  the  Acadian  parishes.   In  rural  areas,  particularly  in  the 
southwestern  Louisiana  parishes,  medical  doctors  were  simply 
unavailable.   Therefore,  settlers  stricken  with  illness  turned  out  of 
necessity,  as  well  as  by  choice,  to  the  folk  physician.   Like  their 
modern,  college-trained  counterparts  in  the  health-care  field, 
traiteurs  specialized  in  various  human  and  animal  diseases,  ranging  in 
severity  from  warts  to  charbon   (anthrax).   The  most  commonly  treated 


48 


maladies,  hovever,  vere  varts,  toothache,  earache,  rheumatism, 
inflamations,  tumors,  and  bleeding.   In  most  instances,  patients 
travelled  to  traiteurs'   homes  for  treatment,  but  bedridden  persons 
vere  treated  either  by  proxy  at  the  homes  of  the  "most  powerful" 
traiteurs  or,  more  commonly,  through  "house  calls. ■     In  treating  an 
ill  patient,  the  attending  traiteur  usually  administered  "holy  vater, 
vax  and  signs  of  the  cross,  mixed  vith  secret  prayers.  "  These  prayers, 
vhich  consistently  invoked  the  power  of  H&tre  Pere  of  la  Sainte  Vierqe. 
vere  the  most  poverful  veapons  in  the  traiteurs*  medical  arsenal,  and, 
as  the  "divine  gift  of  healing"  vas  considered  a  sacred  trust,  the 
incantations  vere  closely  guarded  secrets.   Moreover,  most  traiteurs 
neither  sought,  nor  accepted,  payment  or  verbal  remerciements  from 
their  patients.   Though  traiteurs  frequently  instructed  their 
children — often  of  the  opposite  sex--in  Acadian  folk  medicine,  the 
intricacies  of  the  extra-religious  healing  services  vere  usually  passed 
on  to  young  men,  both  black  and  vhite,  vho  sought  private  instruction 
in  folk  medicine;  the  apprentice  traiteur  vere  strictly  enjoined  to 
maintain  a  veil  of  secrecy  around  their  mystical  rituals. 

Like  traiteurs  sorcerers  invoked  Divine  Providence  to  relieve  the 
pain  of  "severe  arthritis,  internal  sicknesses,  and  sickness  of  the 
members. "   Unlike  traiteurs,  sorcerers  mixed  Catholic  sacramentals  and 
religious  trappings,  such  as  holy  vater,  vith  medieval  black  magic. 
According  to  the  "Anonymous  Breaux  Manuscript",  these  "vizards",  after 
"arresting"  the  disease  vith  magical  incantations,  prescribed  novenas 
and  plasters  made  vith  mysterious  elements,  such  as  May  dev  drops, 
vhich,  though  medically  ineffective,  frequently  evoked  psychosomatic 
benefits.   Once 


^9 


the  patient's  physical  discomfort  abated,  Cajun  sorcerers  prepared  a 
sachet  or  amulet  containing  spiders  and  frog  and  snake  bones  to  be 
placed  around  the  patient's  neck  for  nine  days  to  dislodge  the  evil 
spirit  responsible  for  the  illness. 

Reliance  upon  folk  healers  and  black  magic  did  not  in  any  way 
diminish  Acadian  devotion  to  the  Catholic  church.    Traiteurs  and 
sorcerers  consistently  vere  (and  remain)  devout  Catholics  and  regular 
church-goers.   Sacraments  marking  the  three  major  milestones  in 
life—birth,  marriage,  and  death—were  thus  important  events  in  Acadian 
folk  life.   The  birth  of  a  child,  announced  by  gunshots,  attracted  all 
the  local  vomen  to  the  nev  mother's  house.   Though  such  mutual  aid 
programs  vere  indeed  significant  social  institutions,  they  vere  clearly 
overshadoved  by  the  selection  of  godparents  for  the  child's 
christening,  for  the  practice  formally  allied  families  and  thus 
reinforced  group  identity. 

With  stress  constantly  placed  upon  group  solidarity  vithin  their 
community,  lover  class  Acadians  maintained  a  far  greater  sense  of  group 
identity,  a  far  greater  appreciation  for  their  heritage,  and  a  vay  of 
life  far  different  from  that  of  their  more  affluent  cousins.    The 
institution  of  compulsory  education  in  the  early  tventieth  century, 
hovever,  vould  breach  these  formidable  cultural  vails  and  irrevocably 
alter  the  course  of  their  culture's  development. 


50 


LOUISIANA  FRENCH  FOLKLIFE 
An  Overview 
Barry  Jean  Ancelet 

For  years,  folklorists  were  primarily  concerned  with  the 
performance  traditions  of  people.  They  studied  folktales  and  folk 
music.  But  it  soon  became  clear  that  traditional  culture  went  beyond 
oral  tradition  and  music.  It  was  not  only  a  matter  of  folktales  and 
fiddle  tunes,  but  the  cultural  background  which  produced  them  as  well, 
the  context  in  which  they  thrived  and  the  ethnicity  which  they 
reflected  and  transmitted.  Traditional  culture  also  includes  artifacts 
and  material  culture  like  barns  and  baskets,  ranching  and  religion, 
games  and  names.  It  is  reflected  in  the  very  occupations  and  vocations 
of  everyday  life.  The  term  folklife  is  thus  used  to  refer  to  this 
broader  description  of  tradition  and  community. 

CREOLES  AND  CREOLIZATION 

Historical  Background   (for  a  complete  discussion  of  the  history  of  the 
French  presence  in  Louisiana,  see  Carl  Brasseaux) 

Louisiana  is  sometimes  called  the  Creole  State  and  Louisiana  French 
folklife  is,  like  most  aspects  of  the  French  Louisiana,  indeed  the 
result  of  creolization.  French  settlers  first  began  to  arrive  in 
Louisiana  in  the  early  eighteenth  century.  They  first  settled  along  the 
waterways,  primarily  the  Mississippi  River.  They  first  interacted  with 
the  native  American  Indian  tribes  in  the  area.  They  eventually  imported 


51 


slaves  from  Africa  to  vork  the  large  farms  or  plantations  they 
developed  there. 

In  the  mid-eighteenth  century,  France  transferred  Louisiana  to 
Spain.  The  Spanish  gained  administrative  control  of  the  colony  and  sent 
some  settlers,  but  the  established  French  population  continued  to 
dominate  everyday  life  in  the  colony.  Between  1765  and  1785,  shortly 
after  Spaintook  possession,  the  Acadians  arrived  in  Louisiana  after 
being  exiled  from  their  homeland,  nov  called  Nova  Scotia,  by  the 
British  in  1755.  German-speaking  settlers  also  arrived  from  Alsace  and 
Germany.  English-speaking  settlers  arrived  from  England,  Ireland, 
Scotland  and  the  nev  United  States.  These  varied  peoples  found 
themselves  in  a  regional  "melting  pot*  vhich  blended  these  various 
ingredients  into  a  gumbo  called  Creole  culture. 

In  its  broadest  sense,  Creole  meant  simply  "local,  home-grovn,  not 
imported, "  and  referred  to  people  and  things  as  veil  as  vays  of  doing 
things.  Thus  there  were  French  Creoles  and  Creole  slaves,  Creole  horses 
and  tomatoes,  Creole  language  and  architecture.  The  descendants  of 
French  immigrants  born  in  the  New  World  vere  called  Creoles  to 
distinguish  them  from  the  immigrants  vho  continued  to  arrive  from 
France. 

Slaves  born  in  Louisiana  vere  called  Creoles  to  distinguish  them 
from  blacks  captured  in  Africa  and  brought  to  the  colony  by  slave 
traders.  Creole  slaves  vere  more  valuable  because  they  vere 
acclimatized  and  acculturated;  they  vere  less  likely  to  die  from  nev 
diseases.  They  vere  more  likely  to  speak  the  language  of  their  masters. 
And  they  vere  born  into  slavery  and  vere  thus  less  likely  to  try  to 
escape. 


5a 


Creole  agricultural  products  vere  home-grovn  and  more  likely  to  be 
fresh.  Creole  animals  were  bred  and  raised  locally  and  vere  more  likely 
adapted  to  the  sub-tropical  conditions.  Cultural  features  like 
language,  material  culture  and  architecture,  cuisine,  music  and  oral 
tradition,  and  architecture  vere  also  creolized,  that  is,  blended  in 
the  Louisiana  melting  pot  and  adapted  to  the  environment.  Essential  to 
this  process  vas  improvisation  and  adaptation.  Migration,  vhether 
voluntary  or  not,  caused  a  break  in  ancestral  patterns.  The  Nev  World 
provided  the  opportunity  to  experiment.  While  individual  cultures  did 
preserve  some  old  vays  in  the  Nev  World,  the  frontier  environment  also 
provided  the  opportunity  for  them  to  create  nev  vays  from  the  old.  This 
vas  at  the  very  heart  of  the  creolization  process  in  Louisiana. 

Today  this  creolization  process  has  become  associated  primarily 
vith  one  of  its  most  important  proponents,  the  descendants  of  the 
Acadians  vho  intermarried  and  interacted  vith  most  of  the  other  ethnic 
groups  in  the  area  and  eventually  came  to  dominate  the  Louisiana  French 
melting  pot  by  sheer  numbers.  This  cultural  and  ethnic  hybrid  is  called 
Cajun. 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  A  LOUISIANA  SOCIETY 

An  important  factor  in  developing  a  sense  of  ethnicity  and  cultural 
identity  in  the  Louisiana  French  community  vas  social  gatherings. 
Cajuns  have  long  had  a  strong  sense  of  identity.   See,  for  example, 
James  Dormon's  discussion  of  the  development  of  social  and  cultural 


53 


identity  among  the  Cajuns  in  The  Cajuns;  Essays  on  their  History  and 
Culture   (Lafayette:  University  of  Southvestern  Louisiana,  1983), 
233-251.   Their  ancestors  vere,  in  fact,  one  of  the  first  groups  of  New 
World  settlers  to  develop  a  sense  of  identity  apart  from  that  of  the 
old  country.  Host  of  the  people  vho  eventually  became  the  Acadians  came 
in  1632  from  an  area  about  tventy  miles  around  the  tovn  of  Loudun  on 
the  border  between  the  provinces  of  Poitou  and  Vend(e  in  France.  This 
helps  to  explain  the  strong  sense  of  group  they  demonstrated  very  early 
in  Acadia.  Moreover,  a  nev  sense  of  identity  and  ethnicity  vas  born  in 
Acadia,  the  result  of  the  frontier  experience  and  a  unique  blending  of 
those  first  French  settlers,  native  American  Indian  tribes  like  the 
Hicmac  and  Souriquois,  and  a  small  number  of  Catholic  Irish  and 
Scottish  families.  This  blend  produced  the  Acadians. 

When  the  Acadians  vere  exiled  in  1755,  they  brought  a  strong  and 
tenacious  sense  of  themselves  into  exile  vith  them.  The  vork  of 
historian  Carl  Brasseaux  has  shown  clearly  that  those  vho  eventually 
resettled  in  Louisiana  between  1765  and  1785  had  the  clear  intention  of 
reestablishing  their  broken  society  in  South  Louisiana.  Even  those  vho 
had  been  repatriated  to  France  volunteered  to  the  King  of  Spain  to  help 
settle  his  nevly  acquired  colony.  There  they  encountered  the  French 
Creoles  vho  had  been  in  the  colony  since  the  Lemoine  brothers, 
Iberville  and  Bienville,  had  planted  the  first  permanent  settlement  in 
1699  and  had  undergone  a  blending  process  of  their  ovn.  They  also 
encountered  a  nev  set  of  native  American  Indian  tribes  including  the 
Houmas,  the  Chitimachas  and  remnants  of  the  Attakapas,  as  veil  as 
Germans  and  Alsacians,  Spanish,  and  later  a  fev  Anglo-Americans,  Irish, 


5* 


Scots  and  Italians.  The  blending  process  continued  and  eventually 
produced  the  Cajuns. 

The  descendants  of  slaves  brought  from  Africa  to  vork  on  the 
plantations  primarily  along  the  Mississippi  River  and  bayous  like  the 
Teche  and  the  Vermilion,  were  also  creolized  and  affected  by  the 
Louisiana  blending  process.  They  learned  to  speak  the  French  language 
of  their  nasters  and  overseers,  and  eventually  blended  this  nev 
language  vith  their  ovn  native  languages  to  produce  a  language  called 
Creole.    They  in  turn  interacted  vith  their  neighbors  and  contributed 
nev  vays  of  cooking,  dancing  and  singing  to  the  Louisiana  blend.  They 
adopted  the  Christian  religion  of  the  Europeans  but  adapted  it  to  fit 
their  ovn  sense  of  spirituality. 

SOCIALIZATION  AND  IDENTITY 

On  the  prairies  as  veil  as  along  the  bayous,  life  clustered  in 
snail  pockets.  Before  such  institutions  as  schools  and  churches,  family 
and  neighborhood  gatherings  provided  socialization,  communication  and 
homemade  entertainment  in  a  variety  of  traditional  settings,  all  of 
vhich  helped  to  cement  a  strong  sense  of  community  spirit  in  these 
small  group  settings. 

Boucheries 

In  addition  to  providing  an  efficient  vay  of  distributing  fresh 
seat  to  participating  families,  boucheries  also  vere  an  important  part 
of  the  social  life  of  many  regions,  providing  a  chance  for  friends  and 


55 


relatives  to  get  together  on  a  regular  basis.  While  they  vorked 
together,  they  also  visited  and  talked.  They  found  out  vho  was  doing 
vhat,  vho  vas  seeing  whom,  vho  vas  hosting  a  house  dance  that  weekend, 
vho  vas  ill  and  vho  had  recovered,  vho  needed  help  and  vho  could  give 
it,  vho  vas  born  and  vho  died.  As  they  laughed  and  gossiped,  they  also 
continuously  reinforced  their  sense  of  community  as  they  slaughtered 
the  animal,  cut,  clean  and  divided  the  meat.  They  also  made  sausages 
and  other  by-products.  Nothing  vas  vasted.   Gratons  or  cracklins  vere 
made  of  the  skin.  The  internal  organs  vere  used  in  the  sausages  and 
boudin  or  cooked  in  a  sauce  piquante  de  debris  or  entrail  stev.  Meat 
vas  carefully  removed  from  the  head  and  congealed  for  fromaqe  de  tete 
de  cochon   (hog's  head  cheese).  Brains  vere  cooked  in  a  delicate  brovn 
sauce.  Even  the  intestines  vere  cleaned  and  used  for  sausage  and  boudin 
casings.  It  is  said  that  the  only  thing  lost  in  a  pig  vas  the  squeal. 
Boucheries  also  nutured  a  sense  of  community  in  the  sense  that  the 
cooperative  system  on  vhich  they  vere  based  created  a  interdependence 
betveen  members  of  a  community  vhich  underscored  their  other  social 
ties.  Before  the  days  of  refrigeration,  members  of  a  community,  usually 
already  linked  by  family  ties  and  other  social  factors,  joined  in  a 
cooperative  effort  to  provide  all  participating  members  vith  fresh  meat 
on  a  regular  basis.   Boucheries  depended  on  the  agreement  betveen 
members  of  the  cooperative  to  take  turns  providing  a  pig  or  calf  or 
cov,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  agreement.  Sometimes  animals  vere 
slaughtered  collectively,  vith  at  least  one  representative  of  each 
family  present  to  help.  Other  times,  one  family's  share  in  the 
cooperative  vas  the  vork.  They  slaughtered  and  prepared  the  meat  for 


members  of  the  other  families  to  pick  up  on  a  regular  basis.  Since 
fresh  meat  usually  could  be  preserved  only  a  few  days,  many  boucheries 
operated  on  a  weekly  basis.  The  size  of  the  cooperative  group  was 
limited  to  a  number  which  could  be  adequately  served  by  the  animals 
involved.   Boucheries  de  grosses  betes,   or  beef  cooperatives  had  more 
available  meat  than  boucheries  de  petites  betes,   usually  pork  and 
sheep  cooperatives,  and  thus  involved  more  families. 

In  any  case,  the  society  depended  on  faithful  participation  in  the 
system.  A  break  in  the  chain  could  throw  the  entire  system  off  track. 
In  times  of  trouble,  the  cooperative  covered  for  ailing  or  distressed 
members.  But  able  members  were  expected  to  carry  their  load.  This 
interdependence  underscored  the  sense  of  common  indentity  in  many 
communities. 

Coups  de  main 

There  were  other  cooperative  working  efforts  called  coups  de  main 
to  assist  those  in  need  of  help.  These  were  something  like  assistance 
insurance.  If  someone  was  too  ill  to  pick  his  cotton  or  corn  one  year, 
his  neighbors  and  family  gathered  at  his  house  for  a  ramasserie  , 
usually  picking  his  entire  field  in  a  single  day.  If  someone  needed  a 
new  well  or  a  new  wing  on  his  barn,  folks  gathered  and  pitched  in. 
Later,  he  would  do  the  same  for  someone  else.  These  coups  de  main 
helped  to  strengthen  the  social  fabric  by  establishing  and  perpetuating 
mutual  interdependences.  With  social  security,  health  insurance, 
workmen's  compensation,  and  the  general  trappings  of  a  money-based 
economy  make  these  coups  de  main  less  crucial  to  survival  today,  they 


57 


remain  an  important  part  of  the  social  structure.  Someone  vho  is  adding 
a  ving  onto  his  house  himself  can  expect  help  from  his  circle  of 
friends  and  family.  When  someone  else  in  the  circle  needs  to  build  a 
boat  shed,  he  too  can  expect  that  the  favor  vill  be  reciprocated.  There 
is  a  strong  code  of  honor  involved  in  these  cooperative  efforts. 
Someone  vho  is  asked  to  participate  in  a  coup  de  main  vill  usually 
arrange  to  go,  even  at  great  inconvenience,  in  order  to  preserve  one's 
place  in  the  system. 
Meals 

Not  all  socializing  was  vork-related.  Meals,  for  example,  have  long 
been  a  pivotal  point  of  Cajun  and  Creole  society,  achieving  much  more 
importance  than  simple  nutrition.  It  is  often  said  of  the  Louisiana 
French  that  they  do  not  eat  to  live,  but  live  to  eat.  Cooking  is  a 
highly  cultivated  art.  Weather  and  season  are  factors  only  in 
determining  vhat  kind  of  social  event  meals  vill  be.  There  are  outdoor 
cravfish,  crab  and  shrimp  boils  in  the  spring  and  summer,  and  indoor 
gumbos  in  the  vintertime.  Generally,  vomen  cooked  in  the  kitchen  and 
men  cooked  outdoors.  There  vere  cases  vhen  men  invaded  the  kitchen,  but 
very  rarely  did  women  cook  outdoors. 

In  addition  to  the  meal,  cooking  itself  vas  a  social  event.  Cooking 
vas  considered  a  performance  and  invited  guests  often  gathered  around 
the  kitchen  stove  or  around  the  barbecue  pit  or  butane  burner  to 
observe  the  cooking  process  and  comment  on  it.  Participants  could  also 
be  pressed  into  service  by  the  head  cook  to  do  support  tasks  (cutting 
onions,  washing  crawfish. . . )  All  the  while,  the  cooperative  and 
performance  aspects  of  the  cooking  process  provided  an  opportunity  for 


5£ 


socialization  (exchanging  news,  discussing  issues  of  mutual 
interest...)  and  social  performance  (telling  jokes,  singing  songs...). 
Large  indoor  or  outdoor  affairs  vere  frequently  accompanied  by  informal 
performances  (music,  stories...). 

Heals,  like  coups  de  mains  and  other  cooperative  social 
functions,  often  involved  a  circle  of  participants  which  exchanged 
invitations.  Sometimes  these  circles  vere  large  enough  to  require 
eating  in  shifts.  Often,  in  this  case,  tables  were  discriminated  by 
sex.  Women  ate  together  and  men  ate  together,  giving  each  group  a 
chance  to  engage  in   conversation  vhich  may  have  been  uninteresting  to 
members  of  the  opposite  sex  or  inappropriate  to  a  mixed  group. 

Dance  halls 

One  of  the  most  important  socializing  factors  in  Cajun  culture  vas 
music  and  dancing.  Even  as  they  vere  suffering  the  trauma  of  exile  and 
abject  poverty,  the  Acadians  vho  arrived  in  Saint  Domingue  in  1764 
organized  a  dance  immediately  after  a  communal  vedding  and  baptism 
blessing  ceremony  (see  Salt oris'  letter  to  his  Intendant,  quoted  in 
Gabriel  Debien's  "The  Acadians  in  Santo  Domingo,"  in  The  Ca juris  ,  46). 
An  early  nineteenth-century  travelogue  describes  the  Cajuns  similarly: 
"They  all  danced  to  a  fast  step,  old  and  young  alike. . . "     In 
addition  to  being  a  place  for  the  community  to  meet,  dances  also 
provided  a  place  for  another  important  social  function:  courtship. 
Young  girls  and  boys  began  interacting  on  the  level  of  young  adults 
when  they  began  attending  dances,  usually  under  the  supervision. of 
their  parents,  grandparents  or  older  siblings.  In  some  public  dance 


59 


halls,  young  boys  were  not  allowed  to  roam  freely.  They  were  sometimes 
required  to  remain  in  a  separate  place,  called  la  cage  aux  chiens  , 
unless  they  were  dancing  or  arranging  for  a  dance.  As  often  occurs  in 
places  where  courtship  is  at  stake,  dance  halls  were  not  infrequently 
the  scene  of  fights  and  sometimes  cruel  practical  jokes.  Many  dance 
hall  owners  hired  constables  or  special  watchmen  to  keep  the  peace. 

Before  public  dance  halls,  dances  called  bals  de  maison  were 
often  held  in  private  homes.  Families  cleared  the  largest  room  in  their 
homes  of  furniture  and  spread  the  word  that  there  would  be  a  dance  on  a 
designated  night.  Even  after  the  development  of  public  salles.  families 
continued  to  host  bals  de  maison  .  Because  attendance  at  house  dances 
was  usually  by  invitation  only,  these  tended  to  be  somewhat  safer  than 
public  dance  halls,  but  many  house  dances  were  also  broken  up  by 
invading  hoodlums  and  competing  suiters  as  well.  Musicians  who  were  not 
ready  for  public  performance  first  honed  their  skills  at  these  bals  de 
maison  . 

Veillees 

Another  important  social  gathering  on  a  smaller  scale  was  the 
traditional  veillee,  when  families  and  friends  got  together  for  a 
visit  in  the  evening.  These  visits  were  usually  after  supper  and  often 
included  coffee,  dessert,  and  lots  of  talking.  Storytelling  sessions 
were  popular  forms  of  entertainment  at  these  veillees.  After  a  few 
fairy  tales  or  animal  tales,  the  children  were  sent  to  bed  and  the 
session  continued  in  a  more  adult  vein  with  jokes  and  tall  tales.  Radio 


60 


and  later  television  sometimes  transformed  these  veillees  ,  but  did 
not  entirely  eliminate  them,  replacing  the  storytellers,  but  not  the 
visits. 

OTHER  FAMILY  GATHERINGS 

Extended  family  gatherings  on  occasions  like  religious  holidays, 
birthdays,  weddings  and  funerals  also  provided  opportunities  for 
socialization.  Christmas,  Nev  Year's  Day,  and  Easter  vere  the  most 
popular  family  gathering  days. 

Weddings 

Weddings  vere  often  a  large  affair  which  drev  two  extended  families 
together  in  a  ritual  vhich  vas  usually  accompanied  by  music.  Though 
honeymoon  trips  are  a  relatively  recent  development,  vedding  receptions 
and  dances  are  veil-rooted  in  the  cultural  history  of  the  Cajuns. 
Wedding  receptions  vere  usually  veil-stocked  vith  homemade  cakes  and 
other  food.  Wedding  dances  vere  accompanied  by  a  variety  of  traditions. 
Prominent  among  these  vas  the  vedding  march  in  vhich  the  bride  and 
groom  valked  around  the  dance  floor  to  the  tune  of  the  traditional 
roarche  des  maries  ,  vith  their  parents,  grandparents,  godparents, 
brothers  and  sisters,  aunts  and  uncles  following  in  a  train  of  pairs. 
Aftervards,  the  nevlyveds  danced  a  valtz' and  invited  the  party  to  join 
them,  vhich  officially  launched  the  vedding  dance.  Other  traditions 
associated  vith  vedding  dances  include  requiring  older  unmarried 
siblings  to  dance  barefoot,  often  in  a  tub,  at  the  reception  or  vedding 


61 


dance,  and  contributing  money  to  the  new  household  by  pinning  money  to 
the  bride's  veil  in  exchange  for  a  dance  vith  her. 

Funerals 

Death  also  provided  an  occasion  for  socializing.  Wakes  were  first 
held  in  the  home  of  the  deceased.  The  body  vas  dressed  and  laid  out  in 
one  room  of  the  house.  Family  and  friends  paid  their  respects  and  then 
met  in  the  other  rooms  to  talk  about  the  affairs  of  life:  vho  vas 
planting  what,  vho  vas  seeing  vhom,  vho  vas  having  trouble,  vho  might 
be  next  to  go. . .  Joke  telling  sessions  invariably  occured  in  one  of  the 
back  rooms  during  these  othervise  somber  vakes.  Families  of  the 
deceased  vere  also  expected  to  feed  the  visitors.  Consequently  it  vas 
expected  that  visitors  bring  a  little  something  to  contribute  to  the 
pot.  Even  once  funeral  homes  began  to  displace  vakes  from  private 
homes,  many  of  these  folklife  practices  endured.  A  kitchen  is  a  basic 
requirement  in  South  Louisiana  funeral  homes,  and  storytelling 
sessions  continue  to  thrive  in  the  corners  of  the  lounges  and  vaiting 
rooms. 

OCCUPATIONS  AND  LIFE  CRAFTS 

Activities  that  vere  primarily  traditional  occupations  and  life 
crafts  for  earlier  generations  are  nov  often  preserved  as  folklife 
preoccupations  and  hobbies.  The  most  important  of  these  fishing, 
hunting,  trapping,  cattle  ranching,  farming,  building,  blacksmithing, 
and  basketmaking. 


62 


Farming 

When  the  French  settlers  arrived  in  Acadia,  they  vere  above  all 
farmers  and  set  about  doing  the  kind  of  work  they  knev  hov  to  do,  but 
they  quickly  realized  that  they  vould  need  help  to  discover  vhat  vould 
grov  best  in  this  unfamiliar  land  and  climate.  Native  American  Indian 
tribes  like  the  Hicmac  and  Souriquois  shoved  the  Acadians  hov  to  grov 
corn  and  potatos  and  other  native  American  crops.  They  also  learned 
vhat  native  vild  foods,  like  mushrooms  and  berries  vere  edible.  Before 
long  the  Acadians  vere  cultivating  prosperous  farms  in  natural 
clearings  or  basins  like  the  Ninas,  Grand  Pre,  Beaubassin  and  the  area 
around  Port  Royal.  Within  a  fev  generations  vhen  there  began  to  be  a 
shortage  of  farmland,  they  developed  a  remarkable  system  of  dikes  to 
reclaim  lov  lands  along  the  coast.  After  the  exile,  they  discovered 
that  many  of  the  techniques  they  had  developed  for  farming  in  Acadia 
vould  not  vork  in  sub-tropical  Louisiana.  They  once  again  learned  from 
their  neighbors.  Local  American  Indians,  like  the  Chitimachas  and 
Houmas,  taught  them  about  native  edible  foods  and  hov  to  cultivate 
yams.  Later  they  learned  from  the  French  and  black  Creoles  to  grov 
cotton,  sugar  cane  and  okra.  From  Anglo-Americans  they  eventually 
learned  to  grov  rice  and  soybeans.  Host  Cajuns  cultivated  small 
self-sufficient  farms  groving  a  vide  variety  of  vegetables  and 
livestock.  They  ate  vhat  they  produced,  yet  carefully  established  and 
maintained  family  and  neighborhood  cooperatives  to  assure  a  safety  net 
in  case  of  a  bad  season.  Bartering  vas  a  common  way  of  evening  the 
variety  of  foods  available  to  a  family.  An  overabundance  of  potatoes 


63' 


might  be  traded  for  cane  syrup  or  some  other  commodity.  Some  crops 
served  a  variety  of  purposes  and  nothing  was  vasted.  Corn,  for  example, 
was  cooked  fresh,  ground  into  corn  meal,  and  dried  as  grain  for  the 
cows,  horses  and  mules.  The  shucks  were  used  to  feed  the  cows  and  the 
corncobs  vere  used  to  increase  the  heat  of  fires  under  cooking 
kettles. 

There  are  still  many  Cajuns  and  Creoles  who  make  their  living  on 
the  farm.  There  are  also  many  who  have  turned  to  other  more  commercial 
or  industrial  occupations,  but  who  preserve  an  attachment  to  the  land 
by  growing  a  garden  in  their  backyards  or  on  family  land  where  they 
spend  their  weekends  and  free  afternoons.  Many  of  these  cultivate 
extended  plots  which  are  difficult  to  call  gardens  and  produce  much 
more  than  their  families  can  eat  or  even  conserve,  and  they  distribute 
this  overflow  of  food  to  their  extended  families  and  friends  reducing 
their  dependance  on  store-bought  goods. 

Ranching 

The  Cajuns  and  Creoles  were  among  the  first  cowboys  in  America, 
participating  in  some  of  the  earliest  cattle  drives  in  this  country. 
Those  who  settled  the  southwestern  prairies  were  part  of  the  great 
American  West.  They  became  excellent  riders  and  ropers,  doggers  and 
drivers.  Towns  on  the  southwestern  prairies  of  Louisiana  bear  the 
traces  of  their  origins  as  cattle  towns.  '  Older  store  fronts  look  like 
the  facades  on  a  western  movie  set.  Cement  sidewalks  have  only  recently 
replaced  wooden  plank  ones  called  banquettes.  Hitching  posts  can  still 
be  seen  along  the  main  streets  in  the  older  parts  of  many  of  these 


& 


towns.  There  is  still  a  great  respect  for  horses  and  horsmanship.  There 
are  still  a  few  craftsmen  like  Boo  LeDoux  and  Noah  Comeaux  who  make 
saddles,  whips,   cabresses   (horsehair  ropes),  and  other  western  tack 
for  this  tradition. 

Neighborhood  horse  shows  provide  an  outlet  for  demonstrating  the 
skills  which  were  once  necessary  to  make  a  living  out  on  the  range. 
Trail  rides  still  cut  through  the  prairies.  Times  change,  but 
traditions  adapt  to  them.  Now  trail  riders  must  first  secure  a  permit 
from  the  local  sheriff,  but  the  sheriff  or  state  police  still  maintains 
an  active  mounted  posse  and  can  arrange  to  escort  such  events  on 
horseback.  There  are  still  a  few  ranchers  who  let  their  cattle  graze 
freely,  especially  in  the  marshlands  along  the  coast,  and  round  them  up 
annually  to  count,  brand,  and  sell  them. 

From  blacksmiths  and  farriers  to  metalworkers  and  mechanics 

There  are  still  a  good  number  of  active  blacksmiths  and  farriers, 
also  an  important  part  of  life  with  horses,  though  some  specialized 
skills  have  faded  into  disuse.  Shoeing,  for  example,  is  still  part  of 
the  active  repertoire,  while  banding  wagon  wheels  is  extremely  rare. 
Many  blacksmiths  have  transferred  their  skills  and  knowledge  of 
metalworking  to  produce  industrial  equipment  with  the  addition  of 
welding  to  their  skills.  Others,  like  the  Guidry's  of  Lafayette, 
produce  ornamental  metalworks  like  wrought  iron  chairs  and  barbecue 
pits.  Some,  like  Mr.  Champagne  of  Rayne,  who  might  have  been  smiths  in 
another  time  have  opened  tool  shops  or  sheetmetal  shops  instead;  others 
have  followed  the  progression  of  transportation  from  horse  to 


65 


automobile  to  become  mechanics.  Pierre  Montoucet,  for  example,  vas  a 
vell-knovn  19th  century  blacksmith  vho  provided  some  of  the  delicate 
ironvork  for  the  church  at  Grand  Coteau.  His  son  Jacques  vas  a 
blacksmith  and  farrier  until  he  found  a  set  of  tools  In  a  drainage 
ditch  along  Highvay  90  (the  Old  Spanish  Trail).  His  son  Don  nov  ovns 
and  operates  a  successful  garage  and  body  shop  near  that  same  highvay 
In  Scott.  Don  has  also  translated  his  family  smithing  skills  into 
contemporary  terms.  He  is  a  skilled  velder  and  iron  vorker.  He  has 
fabricated  a  vide  range  of  things  from  boats  to  barns,  triangles  to 
trailers,  out  of  metals.  A  shed  on  the  side  of  his  garage  is  an 
excellent  example  of  his  adaptive  skills;  it  is  made  of  salvaged  road 
sign  posts  and  used  roofing  tin. 

Fishing 

Eventually  some  of  these  settlers  became  fishermen  to  supplement 
their  food  supply  and  income  from  their  principal  occupation,  but  they 
had  to  learn  all  about  it  from  scratch.  There  vere  a  fev  maritime  types 
vho  had  come  from  Bretagne,  Normandy  and  the  area  around  La  Rochelle  in 
France  vho  primed  the  pump  and  soon  the  Acadians  developed  sea  legs  of 
their  ovn  and  fished  for  cod,  haddock,  lobster,  clams,  and  scallops  in 
the  cold  Atlantic  along  the  coast  of  Canada.  When  they  resettled  in 
Louisiana,  hovever,  the  Acadians  had  to  relearn  fishing  techniques 
appropriate  for  catching  speckled  trout, '  redf ish,  shrimp,  crab  and 
oysters  in  the  inland  vaters  along  marshy  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
and  bass,  perch,  catfish,  cravfish.  What  began  as  an  avocation  to 
supplement  farming  developed  for  many  into  a  principal  occupation  and 
for  others  a  principal  hobby. 


66 


It  has  been  said  that  an  example  of  success  among  Cajuns  is  the 
two-trailer  family,  with  one  for  the  horse  and  the  other  for  the  boat. 
Commercial  fishermen  catching  non-game  fish  share  the  Atchafalaya  Basin 
and  the  lakes  and  bayous  of  South  Louisiana  with  sports  anglers  fishing 
for  patassa   (bream  or  sunperch),   sacalait   (crappie  or  white 
perch),   perche   (bass),  and  other  game  fish.  Some  fish  with  wire  loops 
for  poiesons  d'armee   (alligator  gar).  Some  run  trot  lines  to  catch 
barbue   (channel  catfish),   machouaron   (yellow  catfish),  and  qoulon 
(spotted  catfish).  In  the  brackish  lakes  along  the  coast  and  in  the 
bays  and  Gulf,  commercial  and  sports  fishermen  catch  fish  like  redfish, 
speckled  trout,  catfish,  snapper,  and  flounder.  (The  names  of  some  salt 
water  fish  are  less  generally  well-known  than  the  fresh  and  coastal 
water  fish,  perhaps  an  indication  of  the  relatively  recent  development 
of  deep  sea  fishing  in  the  gulf, )  Commercial  trawlers  are  regularly 
joined  in  the  bays  and  inland  waters  by  smaller  private  boats  catching 
shrimp  and  crabs  for  family,  friends  and  freezer.  Individuals  gather 
oysters  in  public  beds  along  vith  oystermen  working  to  supply 
restaurants  and  stores.  In  the  bayous  and  rice  canals,  some  fishermen 
preserve  an  ancient  art  catching  large  catfish  and  turtles  by  hand  in 
underwater  holes  along  the  banks.  At  night  froggers  work  the  banks  of 
bayous,  ponds  and  drainage  ditches,  catching  bullfrogs  by  hand  and  with 
mechanical  gigs. 

Hunting 

In  their  Canadian  homeland,  hunting  for  the  Acadians  had  been  a 
means  to  supplement  their  supply  of  fresh  meat.  They  had  learned  from 
the  native  American  tribes  to  hunt  a  variety  of  game,  including  turkey, 


6? 


pheasant,  moose,  deer  and  elk.  In  Louisiana,  the  Cajuns  had  to  relearn 
hunting  techniques  for  the  sub-tropics.  Because  of  contemporary  laws 
banning  commercial  hunting,  this  activity  has  remained  an  avocation, 
but  a  very  popular  one.  Louisiana  is  located  on  the  southern  end  of  one 
of  the  world's  major  flyvays  providing  an  abundance  of  migratory  birds 
like  dove,  woodcock,  and  a  wide  variety  of  ducks.  There  is  also  an 
ample  supply  of  native  small  game  like  quail,  rabbit  and  squirrel.  For 
those  interested  in  larger  game,  there  is  primarily  deer,  though  there 
are  some  bears  in  the  woods  and  the  basin.  There  is  a  wide  range  of  the 
traditions  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  which  are 
associated  with  hunting,  including  how  to  build  blinds,  how  to  call 
game  (ducks,  quail,  turkeys...),  and  how  to  handle  packs  of  hunting 
dogs.  People  who  hunt  together  over  a  long  period  of  time  also  may 
develop  a  language  all  their  own,  with  colorful  references  to  game  and 
activities,  as  well  as  an  active  stock  of  stories  about  great  hunts  and 
poor  hunts,  narrow  escapes  and  techniques  for  escaping  from  town,  wife 
or  boss. 

Camplore 

The  need  to  get  far  away  from  civilization  for  both  hunting  and 
fishing  has  spawned  a  considerable  amount  of  camps.  Some  are  located  in 
the  Atchafalaya  Basin  or  along  the  numerous  bayous  which  meander 
through  South  Louisiana.  Others  are  in  the  salt  water  marshes  along  the 
coast.  Still  others  are  in  the  pine  and  oak  forests  which  abound  in  the 


68 


region.  Some  of  these  are  elaborate  cooperative  efforts,  while  others 
are  modest   family  affairs.  Some  are  usually  reserved  for  men  only. 
Others  welcome  the  entire  family.  The  need  for  organization  and 
improvised  entertainment  vhile  ostensibly  away  from  civilization 
generates  a  considerable  amount  of  traditions  which  fall  under 
folklife.  Work  crews  are  formed  before  the  season  to  prepare  the  camps. 
Privileges  are  often  accorded  to  the  membership  according  to  activity 
in  the  preparation  and  maintenance  of  the  camp.  Hunters  and  fishermen 
play  cards,  tell  stories  and  sing  songs  to  while  away  the  evenings. 
Certain  members  are  appointed  to  clean  game  and  fish,  to  cook,  and  to 
clean  up.  (See  Huval  research  paper) 

Hogg  picking 

Until  a  few  decades  ago,  moss  picking  was  a  popular  occupation 
among  unskilled  laborers  who  knew  the  swamps  and  forests  of  South 
Louisiana.  The  Spanish  moss  which  hangs  from  many  trees  was  once  used 
to  stuff  the  seats  of  buggies  and  early  automobiles.  Cajuns  and  Creoles 
alike  used  to  travel  through  the  wetlands  filling  flat  bottom  boats 
with  green  moss.  They  would  take  their  loads  of  moss  to  one  of  the  many 
moss  gins  which  dotted  the  edge  of  the  swamps.  With  the  development  and 
refinement  of  springs  and  synthetic  materials,  these  moss  gins 
gradually  disappeared.  The  last  one  in  operation  is  near  Labadieville, 
on  the  east  side  of  the  Atchafalaya  Basin.  Hobbyists  still  gather  and 
dry  some  moss  to  stuff  locally  made  dolls  and  other  toys. 


69 


Boat  building 

Boats  vere  a  necessary  part  of  travel  In  the  swamps  and  bayous. 
Consequently,  boat  building  vas  a  functional  part  of  life  for  the 
vetlands  Cajuns.  They  adapted  boat  styles  from  their  native  France  and 
Acadia,  and  learned  nev  techniques  for  making  a  vide  variety  of  boats, 
from  the  pirogues  and  bateaux  needed  to  travel  in  the  shallow  waters  of 
the  swamps,  to  the  larger  skiffs  needed  to  navigate  the  sometimes 
turbulent  coastal  waters  along  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  to  the  still  larger 
shrimp  boats  needed  to  go  out  into  the  gulf.  Specialty  boats  were 
developed  for  certain  occupations.  Moss-picking  boats  and  oystering 
boats  were  fitted  to  carry  their  respective  loads.  Some  families 
maintained  travelling  boats  as  well  as  work  boats.  Some  boats  were 
poled;  others  were  paddled;  still  others  were  sometimes  propelled  by 
sail,  sometimes  pulled  by  haulers  on  the  banks.  Later  motorized 
one-cylinder  joe  boats  were  designed  to  withstand  the  strain  of  going 
through  the  hyacinths  of  the  fresh  water  swamps  and  grasses  of  the  salt 
water  marshes.  With  the  development  of  shipping  and  especially  the 
offshore  oil  industry,  boat-building  became  big  business.  Companies 
began  manufacturing  tugboats  and  tankers,  as  well  as  oil  drilling 
platforms. 

Cypress  was  once  plentiful  and  made  excellent  boat-building 
material,  because  it  expanded  when  wet,  closing  most  building 
imperfections.  With  the  decimation  of  the  virgin  cypress  forests,  many 
boat-builders  turned  to  recently  developed  materials  like  marine 
plywood  and  later  aluminum,  steel  and  fiberglass.  These  more  modern 
materials  are  often  used  in  designs  based  on  earlier  styles,  like  the 
aluminum  flatbottom  bateau  and  the  fiberglass  pirogue.  Some  of  these 


70 


styles  were  adapted  to  accomodate  new  needs  for  speed  and  style  among 
sportsfishermen,  like  the  Cajun  Bass  Boats.  (See  section  on  boat 
building  by  Glen  Pitre.  ) 

Instrument  making 

Just  as  Cajun  and  Creole  music  are  the  result  of  the  unique  blend 
of  cultural  ingredients  found  in  South  Louisiana,  the  instruments  used 
to  produce  this  music  are  also  the  result  of  an  ecclectic  collection  of 
influences.  Traditional  instrumentation  in  Cajun  and  Creole  bands 
includes  French  fiddles,  German  accordions,  Spanish  guitars,  and  a  rich 
array  of  percussion  instruments,  including  triangles,  scrubboards  and 
spoons,  vhich  share  European  and  Afro-Caribbean  origins.  Although  most 
of  these  instruments  vere  originally  imported  from  manufactured 
sources,  some  vere  eventually  made  in  Louisiana  by  craftsmen  vho 
acquired  these  skills  from  immigrants,  as  vas  usually  the  case  vith 
fiddle  makers,  or  by  simple  studying  the  imported  models,  as  vas 
generally  the  case  vith  Accordion  makers.  Often  percussion  instruments 
vere  originally  improvised  from  household  materials,  like  spoons  or 
vashboards,  and  later  refined  into  a  form  vhich  vas  only  usuable  as  an 
instrument.  When  electrical  amplification  became  available,  many  bands 
improvised  their  ovn  systems  from  radio  parts  hooked  up  to  a  speaker  on 
one  end  and  a  crystal  microphone  on  the  other,  the  vhole  operation 
being  povered  as  often  as  not  by  a  generator  mounted  on  an  idling 
automobile  parked  outside  the  building.  Perhaps  the  most  popular 
instrument  to  come  out  of  this  nev  age  vas  the  electric  steel  guitar, 
an  electrically  amplified  modification  of  the  accoustic  dobro.  Many  of 


71 


these  vere  modified  by  the  players  themselves.  (See  article  on 
instrument  making  in  this  report.  ) 

Life  Crafts 

One  of  the  most  important  and  most  visible  life  crafts  in  the  Cajun 
tradition  has  been  weaving.  In  the  days  before  the  general 
availability   of  pre-fabricated  material,  communities  produced  their 
own.  The  Cajuns  learned  to  grow,  harvest,  card,  spin  and  weave  cotton 
in  Louisiana,  and  made  their  own  clothing  and  other  household  items 
like  tablecloths,  washcloths,  rugs,  sheets  and  blankets.  One  of  the 
distinctive  elements  of  Acadian  weaving  tradition  involved  the  use  of 
naturally  brown  cotton  and  wool  dyed  with  natural  substances  like 
indigo  and  berries  for  decorative  purposes.  (See  Robert  Smith's  report 
on  Acadian  weaving. )  While  working  for  the  LSU  extention  services 
during  the  1930s,  Louise  Olivier  organized  groups  of  Acadian  women  to 
revive  traditional  skills  and  market  them.  This  effort  developed  a 
group  of  weavers,  some  of  whom  are  still  alive  and  active  today  (e.g., 
Gladys  Clark,  of  Judice).     The  weaving  of  dried  leaves  and  grasses 
is  also  found  in  Louisiana  French  tradition.  Native  Louisiana  Indians, 
such  as  the  Houma  and  Chitimacha,  and  later  arrivals,  such  as  the 
Coushatta  (Koasati),  make  beautiful  baskets,  often  in  the  shapes  of 
animals,  from  dried  straw  and  grasses,  or  pine  needles.  Ada  Thomas  has 
received  a  National  Heritage  Award  for  her  role  in  preserving  her 
heritage  and  in  inspiring  young  members  of  her  community  to  learn  this 
traditional  skill.  There  has  been  a  renewal  of  interest  in  weaving 
among  native  Louisiana  Indians.  Cajuns  learned  to  make  fine  hats,  fans 


72 


and  other  accessories  from  dried  leaves  from  their  native  American 
neighbors,  but  this  tradition  has  rapidly  eroded  in  recent  years. 
Elvlna  Kidder  is  one  of  the  last  of  the  Cajun  palmetto  veavers. 

Devolution  vs  transformation  of  tradition 

Some  folklorists  tend  to  viev  change  as  a  problem.  Yet,  left  to 
their  ovn,  traditional  cultures  are  constantly  in  the  process  of 
changing.  This  is  not  necessarily  a  sign  of  decay,  as  antiquarianists 
contend,  but  a  sign  of  life  instead.  In  order  to  survive  and  grov  in  a 
contemporary  context,  tradition  must  shed  its  dead  branches  and  grov 
nev  ones.  If  tradition  is  vieved  as  a  process  instead  of  a  product, 
then  this  necessary  change  can  also  be  traditional  if  it  conforms  to 
its  own  rules.  Trying  to  restrict  the  natural,  organic  growth  of  a 
traditional  culture  may  be  like  trying  to  pin  it  to  the  vail,  thus 
contributing  to  its  demise,  instead  of  vatching  it  fly  around  on  its 
ovn. 

One  example  of  this  is  the  music  and  dance  of  the  Cajuns  and 
Creoles.  While  it  is  undeniably  true  that  some  of  the  variety  of  steps, 
like  the  reels  and  quadrilles,  contredanses  and  mazurkas,  vere  lost  in 
this  century,  it  is  also  true  that  nev  steps  have  been  developed  vithin 
the  tradition  vhich  include  more  individually  expressive  styles  like 
the  Cajun  version  of  the  jitterbug  and  the  nev  Cajun  shuffle.  Musicians 
have  also  adapted  to  changes,  electrifying  their  music  and 
experimenting  vith  nev  instrumentation,  like  saxophones  and  pianos,  and 
styles,  like  rock  and  country.  In  addition  to  the  traditional  dance 
hall  and  house  dance  settings,  they  nov  also  play  in  festivals  and  in 
the  schools,  on  radio  and  television. 


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The  loss  of  long  magic  tales  and  animal  tales  has  also  been 
lamented  by  folklorists  vho  have  studied  Louisiana  French  oral 
tradition,  yet  there  is  a  remarkable  persistence  of  oral  tradition 
among  the  Cajuns  and  Creoles  despite  the  grim  predictions  of  its 
imminent  disappearance.  Storytelling  has  been  described  as  a  dying  art 
in  South  Louisiana  for  decades.  Yet  there  is  still  a  tremendous  love  of 
talking  and  storytelling  in  this  culture.  Stories  have  not  faded  from 
the  scene.  Instead  there  has  been  a  transformation  of  oral  tradition  to 
accomodate  shorter  forms,  like  jokes  and  tall  tales,  vhich  can  survive 
the  pace  of  modern  times. 

There  is  a  parallel  development  in  the  adaptation  of  traditional 
folklife  in  the  contemporary  vorld,  including  the  combination  of 
traditional  occupations  vith  modern  salaried  employment.  The  7/7  or 
14/14  schedules  of  most  roughnecks  and  deck  hands  make  it  possible  for 
them  to  continue  pursuing  traditional  occupations  like  trapping  and 
fishing.  Traditional  occupations  also  have  adapted  to  accomodate  modern 
conveniences.  Many  cravfishermen  now  run  their  traps  in  boats  vith 
special  motors,  like  "go-devils"  vhich  have  been  designed  to  run  in 
very  shallow  vater.  The  crawfishing  season  has  also  been  stretched  to 
start  in  November  and  run  until  Hay  by  the  development  of  ponds  based 
on  highly  sophisticated  scientific  research. 

BELIEFS  and  FOLK*  RELIGION 

It  is  important  to  remember  that  the  word  superstition  has  a 
negative  connotation  and  should  be  avoided.  A  superstition  is  someone 
else's  belief  vieved  from  the  outside.  Cajuns  and  Creoles  have  a  rich 


7^ 


stock  of  legends  and  beliefs.  Host  of  these  come  from  France  and 
Africa,  though  most  of  these  were  adapted  to  the  South  Louisiana 
context.  Some  vere  developed  in  South  Louisiana  in  response  to  more 
recent  phenomena. 

Legends 

Traditional  bogeymen,  used  to  frighten  children,  include  Madame 
Grands-doiqts.  vho  is  said  to  come  at  night  to  pull  the  toes  of  naughty 
children  vith  her  long,  bony  fingers,  and  la  tatallle  ,  the  beast  vho 
is  said  to  come  to  take  naughty  children  avay  and  even  eat  them  up. 
Creoles   tell  of  cauchemar,  vhich  rides  people  in  their  sleep  causing 
them  to  feel  suffocated  and  distressed,  and  of  qris-gris.  evil  spirits 
or  spells  cast  on  one  person  by  another.  These  are  in  addition  to  a 
vide  variety  of  idiosyncratic  bogeymen  developed  by  individual 
families,  like  baboons  and  racoons,  covs  and  cats,  bulls  and  bears. 

Cajuns  also  tell  of  feux  follets.  a  Louisiana  French  version  of 
will  o'the  visps  or  foxfire,  floating  lights  vhich  caused  observers  to 
get  lost  in  the  voods  or  open  prairie  at  night.  Feux  follets  are  said 
to  be  the  vandering  souls  of  unbaptized  babies  vho  lure  travelers  avay 
from  roads  in  the  dark  and  cause  them  to  become  lost.  It  is  said  that 
one  vay  to  avoid  their  influence  is  to  open  a  three-bladed  knife  and 
stick  it  into  a  post  or  tree.  The  feu  fbllet  will  then  become 
attracted  to  its  ovn  reflection  in  the  blades,  allowing  the  person  to 
escape. 


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In  Quebec,  the  sound  of  thunder  is  called  la  chasse  qalerie.  said 
to  be  the  shouting  of  damned  lumberjacks  who  sold  their  souls  to  the 
devil  in  exchange  for  the  right  to  return  from  the  voods  to  visit  their 
girlfriends  in  town.  The  Louisiana  chasse  qalerie  resembles  instead 
the  French  version  of  the  legend  vhich  describes  thunder  as  the  crying 
of  vild  huntsmen  vho  vere  damned  for  hunting  on  Sunday.   The  loup 
qarou.  Louisiana  version  of  the  verevolf,  does  not  need  to  be  shot  vith 
a  silver  bullet  to  be  killed  as  in  Europe.  In  some  tellings,  he  needs 
only  to  be  made  to  bleed  to  be  transformed  back  into  human  form.  There 
are  also  other  qarou  forms  like  hibou  qarou  (man  transformed  into  ovl), 
chien  qarou  (man  into  dog),  and  chat  qarou  (man  into  cat). 

Other  legends  and  beliefs  include  stories  about  God  walking  on 
earth,  unrepentant  men  rooted  to  the  ground,  and  babies'  veils 
(membranes)  announcing  special,  psychic  povers. 

Weather  Prediction 

Many  farmers  believed  in  the  ability  to  predict  the  weather  by 
observing  signs  in  nature.  Some  of  these  signs  have  no  immediately 
demonstrable  physiological  connection  vith  the  predicted  veather.  For 
example,  when  the  points  of  a  crescent  moon  are  up,  it  is  suppposed  to 
be  dry  for  a  week.  A  halo  of  light  around  a  full  moon  supposedly  means 
clear  veather  for  a  number  of  days  equal  to  number  of  stars  visible 
inside  the  ring.  Other  signs  have  a  relatively  plausible  connection  to 
the  veather.  The  flocking  of  blackbirds,  for  example,  is  considered  a 
sign  of  a  coming  cold  snap.   If  cows  lay  down  under  a  threatening  sky, 


76 


this  is  a  sign  that  it  will  indeed  rain;  conversely,  if  they  do  not, 
this  is  a  sign  that  it  will  not  rain,  or  rain  only  a  light  shower. 

Folk  medicine 

Long  ago,  there  was  not  always  a  doctor  at  hand  to  cure  ills  and 
injuries.  People  took  care  of  themselves  and  their  neighbors  as  best 
they  could.  Over  the  centuries,  they  developed  cures  for  roost  common 
ailments.  There  is  a  continuum  of  curing  practices  ranging  from  herbal 
remedies  to  traiteurs.  In  herbal  remedies,  there  is  at  least  an 
ostensible  causal  relationship  between  the  use  of  plants  and  other 
materials  and  the  cure  which  is  sought,  as  in  the  case  of  certain 
leaves  which  are  steeped  in  cold  water  to  make  a  tea  which  relieves  the 
pain  of  indigestion.  Modern  science  has  shown  that  some  of  these  herbs 
and   plants  contain  natural  forms  of  drugs  which  are  used  by  doctors 
today.  Some  where  toward  the  middle  of  the  spectrum,  there  are  the 
cures  which  involve  physical  materials,  but  in  which  there  is  no 
clearly  demonstrable  causal  relationship  between  remedy  and  cure,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  advice  to  urinate  on  a  hot  rock  to  cure 
indigestion. 

On  the  opposite  end  of  this  spectrum,  there  is  faith  healing, 
called  in  South  Louisiana  traitment.  which  seeks  to  cure  ailments  by 
means  only  of  spoken  incantations  or  prayers.  Certain  individuals, 
called   traiteurs  ,  are  said  to  be  blessed  with  the  power  or  knowledge 
to  cure  certain  maladies.  This  tradition  is  the  result  of  an 
overlapping  of  cultural  influences,  from  the  •sorcerers"  and  "witches" 
of  pre-Christian  western  French  tradition  to  the  "witch  doctors"  of 


77 


African  tradition  to  the  "medicine  wen"  of  American  Indian  tradition. 
All  these  claimed  to  affect  nature  vith  only  spells  or  incantations. 
With  the  arrival  of  Christian  tradition,  these  incantations  became 
prayers  and  acquired  quasi-religious  trappings.  A  traiteur  may,  for 
example,  attempt  to  cure  indigestion  by  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  on 
the  stomach  of  the  ailing  person  and  saying  a  prayer  from  the  Bible. 
(For  an  analysis  of  folk  medicine  and  faith  healing,  and  a  vide  range 
of  examples,  see  John  Lancon's  honors  thesis  on  folk  medecine  in  south 
Louisiana.  ) 


78 


FOLK  RELIGION 
Barry  Jean  Ancelet 

Folklore  is  knowledge  that  is  passed  along  from  one  person  to 
another  or  from  one  generation  to  another  through  traditional, 
non-official  channels.  In  this  respect,  folk  religion  includes  beliefs 
and  practices  vhich  are  not  sanctioned  by  Rone,  but  vhich  have  become 
an  integral  part  of  the  religious  lives  of  a  people  by  custom.  This 
includes  such  videly-knovn  practices  as  the  giving  of  gifts  on 
Christmas  and  New  Year's  Day,  as  veil  as  more  culture  specific 
practices  such  as  the  immensely  popular  latin-based  celebration  of 
Mardi  Gras  on  the  day  before  the  Lenten  season,  the  making  of  king's 
cakes  during  the  epiphany  up  to  Mardi  Gras,  and  even  more  obscure 
practices  such  as  the  special  commemoration  celebration  of  certain 
saints'  feastdays,  like  the  making  of  bread  altars  for  St.  Joseph's 
Day,  principally  among  the  Italians  of  Hev  Orleans,  or  the  vhitening 
and  decorating  of  tombs  for  La  Toussaint  or  All  Saint's  Day. 

Often  there  is  considerable  overlap  betveen  nature  beliefs  and  folk 
religion.  Even  within  the  Catholic  Church,  Christmas  Day  vas  originally 
determined  by  the  former  Winter  soltice  and  Easter  is  determined 
annually  by  the  first  Sunday  after  the  first  full  moon  after  the  Spring 
equinox.  It  is  perhaps  a  consequence  of  the  ritual  importance  of  the 
Spring  and  a  period  of  rebirth  that  a  number  of  traditional  activities 
can  be  found  during  this  time  of  the  year.  The  huge  bonfires  mark  the 
New  Year  in  some  of  the  Mississippi  River  parishes  are  in  a  direct  line 
from  the  bonfires  lit  by  ancient  civilizations  to  encourage  and 
reinforce  the  sun  in  its  weakest  moment  (the  Winter  solstice). 


79 


Epiphany  is  announced  by  the  making  of  king's  cakes  in  which  a  bean 
is  hidden.  The  one  who  gets  the  piece  vith  the  bean  is  chosen  king  for 
the  day.  Kardi  Gras  is  a  complex  ritual  vith  origins  in  ancient 
societies  as  veil  as  medieval  times  (see  Hardi  Gras  paper).  Another 
example  of  this  phenomenon  is  the  tradition  of  St.  Medard's  Day,  on 
vhich  if  it  rains,  it  is  said  to  rain  for  the  next  40  days. 

The  relative  lack  of  traditional  religious  activity  during  the 
summer  and  fall  may  be  related  to  the  concentration  of  vork  effort 
needed  to  plant  and  harvest  crops.  There  are,  hovever,  a  fev  folk 
religious  practices  directly  associated  vith  farming  and  fishing.  Each 
year,  priests  go  out  into  the  fields,  in  places  like  Nev  Iberia  and 
Jeanerette,  to  bless  the  sugar  cane  and  out  to  the  edges  of  the  bayous, 
in  places  like  Delcambre  and  Morgan  City,  to  bless  the  shrimping  fleets 
by  saying  prayers  over  them  and  sprinkling  them  vith  holy  vater. 

Also  included  in  folk  religion  are  personal  or  family  observances 
of  religion,  such  as  the  building  and  maintenance  of  home  altars  in 
Cajun  and  Creole  households.  These  home  altars  serve  not  only  as  prayer 
places,  but  also  as  temples  to  commemorate  family  members  vho  have 
passed  avay,  vith  illustrated  holy  cards  and  death  announcements,  and 
tokens  like  vatches,  rings,  scapulars,  rosaries,  and  prayer  books. 
These  home  shrines  are  often  lovingly  kept  vith  fresh  flovers  and  other 
decorations. 

Another  popular  kind  of  folk  religious  observance  among  Cajuns  and 
Creoles  alike  is  lavn  statuary.  Many  Cajun  families  pay  their  respects 
to  their  patron  saint,  usually  Our  Lady  of  the  Assumption,  vith. 


80 


homemade  grottos  or  shrines  vhich  house  statues  of  the  Virgin.  (The 
Cajuns'  traditional  reverence  for  the  Virgin  Mary  may  not  be  such  a 
coincidence,  since  the  principal  dieties  in  much  of  pre-Christian 
Europe  were  women.  See,  for  example,  Julia  Landry's  study  of  Celtic 
influences  in  Cajun  tradition. )  Other  popular  statues  include  the 
Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus,  and  Saint  Theresa  (often  confused  with  the 
Blessed  Virgin)  Some  of  these  shrines  simply  expose  the  statues  all 
alone.  Others  nestle  the  statues  in  natural  havens,  like  porches, 
carports  or  under  trees.  Still  others  can  be  quite  remarkable, 
including  complex  brick  or  cement  grottos  and  elaborate  landscaping, 
including  small  ponds  and  flovering  bushes. 

Because  of  the  predominance  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church  among  the 
Cajuns  and  Creoles,  there  are  religious  rituals  vhich  surround  the 
major  steps  in  a  person's  life,  including  birth,  courtship  and 
marriage,  and  death.   Children  are  almost  invariably  baptized  Catholic, 
and  this  vithin  the  first  fev  months  of  their  lives.  The  business  of 
godfathering  and  godmothering  is  still  very  important  in  Cajun  country. 
Almost  alvays  referred  to  by  their  French  names,  even  by 
non-French-speaking  youth,  parrains  and  marrains  are  not  only  spiritual 
guides  and  insurance  in  case  of  the  loss  of  both  parents.  They  become 
family.  They  enlarge  the  circle  of  people  vho  like  you  just  because. 
They  are  gift  givers  at  Christmas  time  and  on  birthdays.  They  are  also 
the  ones  children  might  run  to  in  case  of  trouble  at  home.  A  typical 
statement  concerning  godparents  can  go  something  like  this:  "Well,  my 
dad  can't  go  to  the  lake  this  weekend,  so  my  parrain  is  taking  me." 
Consequently,  there  has  long  been  a  great  deal  of  importance  given  to 


81 


choosing  these  representatives.  One  commonly  held  tradition  is  that  one 
cannot  request   this  honor.  There  is,  thus,  a  great  deal  of  lobbying 
and  jockeying  for  position  vhich  goes  on  behind  the  scenes  as  soon  as  a 
voman  becomes  pregnant,  and  sometimes  even  before. 

Courtship  and  marriage  were  usually  a  matter  for  teenagers, 
traditionally.  Sexual  mores  vere  strictly  governed  by  the  church  lav 
and  mothers.  Young  ladies  vere  almost  alvays  escorted  to  places  of 
courtship,  like  dance  halls,  by  their  parents  or  at  least  by  an  older 
brother  or  uncle,  vho  diligently  surveyed  the  maiden's  honor.  Young 
boys  vith  serious  intentions  had  to  make  official  visits  to  the  family 
home,  usually  on  Sunday  afternoon,  to  negotiate  vith  the  young  lady's 
father.  Couples  vere  almost  never  left  alone  until  veil  into  their 
courtship,  and  even  then,  only  in  an  obvious  safe  situation  like  on  the 
front  porch  sving.  Much  of  this  has  nov  changed  and  young  Cajuns  date 
just  like  couples  in  most  parts  of  America. 

Long  ago,  a  girl  vho  reached  the  age  of  tventy  vithout  marrying  vas 
considered  une  vieille  fille.   an  old  maid.  Marriages  vere  performed 
according  the  rules  of  the  Catholic  church.  For  example,  vedding  banns, 
or  announcements,  had  to  be  published  three  times  before  a  ceremony  vas 
alloved. 

Death  involved  another  set  of  religious  rituals.  Long  ago,  most 
families  vaked  their  dead  in  the  home.  Novadays,  most  use  funeral 
homes.  Yet  there  are  a  fev  durable  traditions  no  matter  vhere  the  body 
is  exposed.  Food  is  provided  to  visitors  and  it  is  customary  to  bring  a 
contribution  for  the  table.  Every  funeral  has  a  kitchen  in  vhich  food 
is  kept  hot  and  made  available  to  visitors.  Traditionally,  bodies  vere 


82 


vaked  non-stop  through  the  night  for  several  days,  which  required 
special  arrangements  so  that  the  body  vas  never  alone,  even  in  the 
middle  of  the  night.  Recently,  funeral  homes  have  begun  closing  at  10 
PM  or  midnight,  easing  the  strain  on  survivors,  but  upsetting  many  who 
are  disturbed  that  their  loved  ones  are  left  alone.  Some  families 
continue  to  insist  on  staying  all  night.  At  certain  intervals  during 
the  vake,  the  rosary  is  recited  for  the  departed.  Certain  members  of 
the  community,  in  addition  to  the  priests  and  members  of  the  lay 
clergy,  become  knovn  as  leaders  of  rosary,  primarily  for  their  ability 
to  deliver  the  mysteries  and  the  special  marker  prayers  vhich  occur 
between  decades  and  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  rosary. 

Another  aspect  of  folk  religion  includes  the  relationship  between 
religion  and  everyday  life.  This  ranges  from  beliefs  like  that  the 
Virgin  will  slap  children  who  whistle  at  the  dinner  table  to  attitudes 
concerning  clergy  (see  paper  on  anticlerical  humor).  Another  common 
belief  of  this  sort  is  that  it  is  forbidden  to  break  ground  on  Good 
Friday,  and  that  if  one  does,  one  will  see  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Conversely  it  is  also  held  that  Good  Friday  is  the  best  day  for 
planting  parsley.  This  combination  of  beliefs  caused  many  a  gardener  to 
plan  ahead  for  the  preparing  and  planting  of  his  parley  patch.  Many 
Cajun  families  went  to  church  on  Palm  Sunday  to  receive  blessed  palm 
leaves  and  holy  water  which  they  kept  in  their  houses  to  spread  during 
storms. 

Praying  is  considered  an  important  part  of  life  and  prayer  is 
thought  of  as  a  means  of  intercession  with  which  one  can  change  the 
course  of  life.  Some  persons,  not  necessarily  appointed  by  the  church, 


83 


are  thought  to  have  a  particularly  good  relationship  vith  God  and  are 
frequently  asked  by  others  to  help  in  obtaining  favors  from  Him.  These 
people  thus  become  mediators  betveen  the  Deity  and  His  people,  much  in 
the  same  vay  that  their  ancestors  used  appointed  prophets  and  high 
priests. 

Traditional  observances  like  the  eating  of  seafood  on  Fridays  and 
during  the  Lenten  season  provides  another  example  of  the  relationship 
betveen  religion  and  everyday  life.  Fish  markets  gear  up  to  provide  for 
a  heavier  demand  on  days  historically  set  aside  for  fasting,  despite 
the  fact  that  the  Catholic  Church  has  officially  eased  its  rules  in 
this  matter.  Even  many  public  school  cafeterias  continue  to  provide 
alternatives  to  meat  for  the  predominately  Catholic  student  body  on  Ash 
Wednesday  and  Fridays  during  Lent.  Waitresses  in  restaurants  vill  often 
gently  remind  patrons  of  the  day,  especially  on  special  days  like  Ash 
Wednesday  and  Good  Friday,  if  they  choose  a  meat  entree,  just  in  case 
they  may  have  forgotten. 

Like  the  Mardi  Gras  celebration,  vhich  signals  the  beginning  of 
Lent,  Good  Friday,  vhich  signals  its  approaching  end,  is  celebrated 
vith  a  ceremonial  procession  on  the  road  betveen  Catahoula  and  St. 
Hartinville.  Usually  mounted  on  the  vails  of  a  church,  the  stations  of 
this  Way  of  the  Cross  are  mounted  on  the  largest  oak  trees  betveen  the 
tvo  tovns.  Members  of  the  faithful  gather  in  St.  Hartinville  and  valk 
or  drive  the  length  of  the  road  to  Catahoula  (about  eight  miles), 
stopping  at  each  station  to  pray.     Easter  has  traditionally  been  a 
time  of  family  gatherings.  Nov  many  Cajun  families  have  learned, 
features  of  the  celebration  from  the  American  marketplace,  like  the 


m 


giving  of  baskets  of  dyed  eggs  and  chocolate  bunnies.  Traditionally, 
however,  eggs  were  not  given,  but  prepared  for  a  contest  called 
pacquer,  after  the  French  name  for  Easter,  Pacques.  Participants  boiled 
and  dyed  their  eggs  and  brought  along  on  visits  to  friends  and 
relatives  where  they  would  pit  them  against  other  eggs  to  see  which  vas 
the  strongest,  that  is,  which  resisted  breaking  when  struck  against 
another  egg.  The  winner  was  allowed  to  take  the  loser's  broken  egg  as  a 
prize.  This  meant  that  the  winners  had  more  to  eat  than  the  losers  and 
there  was  much  competition  in  these  quests  for  the  strongest  eggs. 
This,  along  with  a  natural  love  of  practical  joking,  led  many  to  dye 
smallish  goose  eggs  or  largish  guinea  hen  eggs  (both  renown  for  their 
tough  shells)  and  even  rocks  in  an  attempt  to  stack  the  odds.  Others 
distributed  dyed,  but  uncooked  eggs  to  grateful,  but  unsuspecting 
friends  to  watch  their  faces  when  they  encountered  the  inevitably  messy 
results  of  the  competition. 

Perhaps  the  important  element  of  this  tradition  was  the  visiting 
and  socialization  it  made  possible.  This  tradition  is  still  very 
popular  among  many  Cajun  families  today.  Extended  families  and  friends 
take  advantage  of  the  Spring  holiday  to  get  together,  not  only  for  a 
little  egg  pacquing,  but  also  for  a  crawfish  boil  or  a  barbecue  as 
well.  Many  of  the  usual  rites  of  spring  are  also  observed:  baseball, 
volleyball,  kite  flying,  fishing,  sleeping  outside.  Easter  is,  in  many 
ways,  a  day  on  which  the  inevitable  summer  is  claimed. 

Christmas  is  the  other  major  religious  holiday  celebrated  by  the 
Cajuns.  Now,  they  buy  Christmas  trees  and  exchange  battery-operated 
presents  like  in  most  parts  of  the  western  world.  Cajun  children  now 


85 


eagerly  avait  the  arrival  of  Santa  Claus.  Traditionally  they  avaited 
the  arrival  of  le  Pere  Noel,  or  Father  Christinas  and  received  small, 
often  handmade  presents.  In  fact,  traditionally,  Christmas  vas  more 
important  as  a  time  for  family  gatherings,  family  meals  and  going 
together  to  church  for  mass,  often  at  midnight,  than  it  vas  a  time  for 
the  exchange  of  gifts.  Although  some  did  occur  on  Christmas  Day,  the 
major  gift  exchanging  holiday  in  many  families  vas  Nev  Year's  Day.  On 
this  day,  families  and  friends  gathered  and  exchanged  gifts  called 
etrennes. 


86 


MARDI  GRAS 
Barry  Jean  Ancelet 

Though  not  "sanctioned"  by  Rome,  Mardi  Gras  is  a  popular 
traditional  festival  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  occuring  on  the  last 
day  before  the  beginning  of  the  Lenten  season.  Mardi  Gras,  also  called 
Carnaval,  has  roots  in  ancient  Spring  rituals  and  in  medieval  European 
adaptations  of  these  older  rituals.  Survivals  of  these  characteristics 
are  still  evident  in  contemporary  celebrations  of  the  Mardi  Gras. 

A  key  element  of  the  Mardi  Gras  involves  its  roots  in  ancient 
springtime  fertility  rituals.  These  often  functioned  as  a  rite  of 
passage  for  boys  and  girls  by  allowing  them  to  act  as  men  and  women. 
This  was  sometimes  accomplished  by  performing  arduous  tasks  associated 
with  manhood  or  womanhood,  often  involving  surviving  alone.  It  was 
sometimes  of  a  more  explicit  sexual  nature.  This  aspect  of  the 
celebration  can  still  be  clearly  seen  in  such  manifestations  as  the  Rio 
de  Janeiro  carnaval,  long  based  on  the  pursuit  and  realization  of 
erotic  fantasies.  Even  in  the  comparatively  tame  New  Orleans  Mardi 
Gras,  one  can  see  women  baring  their  breasts  for  the  crowds  from  their 
French  quarter  balconies.  Additionally  the  whip,  part  fertility  symbol 
associated  with  such  rituals  since  ancient  civilizations  and  part 
instrument  of  intimidation,  is  frequently  encountered  in  symbolic  form 
during  Mardi  Gras  celebrations.  The  black  Mardi  Gras  streetwalkers  in 
Lafayette,  for  example,  often  carry  crepe  paper  whips.  A  remarkable 
survival  of  this  fertility  symbolism  can  be  found  in  the  women's  Mardi 
Gras  at  Petit  Mamou  near  Basile,  where  women  collect  ingredients  for  a 
communal  gumbo  just  like  the  men.  After  the  ride,  however,  the  women 

87 


sit  on  the  floor  in  a  circle  singing  their  own  version  of  the  Hardi 
Gras  eong  vhile  a  corresponding  number  of  men  dancing  around  them 
pretending  to  vhip  them  vith  riding  crops  and  bullvhips. 

The  Hardi  Gras  is  also  based  on  a  reversal  of  the  social  order, 
vhere  supposed  chaos  rules.  The  king  of  the  Rio  Hardi  Gras,  for 
example,  is  Re  Bobo.  the  King  of  Fools,  or  the  King  of  Hisrule.  As 
early  as  medieval  Europe,  festivals  of  this  sort  have  been  associated 
vith  the  Hardi  Gras.  The  French  chose  le  Roi  dee  Fous.  The  English 
chose  the  Boy  Bishop.  In  each  case,  the  point  of  the  celebration  vas  to 
reverse  the  social  order,  to  allow  the  lover  classes  a  day  to  parody 
the  upper  classes.  Hen  dressed  as  vomen,  women  as  men.  The  poor  dressed 
as  rich,  the  rich  as  poor.  The  old  dressed  as  young,  the  young  as  old. 
Black  dressed  as  white,  white  as  black.  Within  this  ritual  chaos, 
however,  vas  a  strict  rules  system  without  which  such  potentially 
threatening  play  was  impossible.  The  ritual  fool,  or  clown,  was  an 
important  character  in  the  celebration  of  Hardi  Gras.  The  French  clown 
was  sometimes  called  le  paillasse,  or  strawman,  and  could  be  identified 
by  his  clothes  which  were  stuffed  with  straw. 

A  third  key  element  of  the  Hardi  Gras  is  its  processional  nature. 
Unlike  other  traditional  festivals  which  occur  in  a  fixed  place,  the 
Hardi  Gras  moves  about  through  the  world,  bringing  its  celebration  to 
people,  sometimes  whether  they  like  it  or  not.  The  Hardi  Gras 
processions  move  through  towns  and  countryside  alike  invading  public 
spaces  like  roads,  rendering  them  impassible  and  commercial  districts 
rendering  them  inoperable.  Banks  and  merchants  are  forced  to  close  for 
the  madness. 


88 


A  fourth  element  of  the  Mardi  Gras  is  anonymity.  Masks  provide  an 
opportunity  to  shed  inhibitions  and  to  take  on  roles  for  the  day. 
Otherwise  serious  people  can  be  transformed  into  clowns  and  otherwise 
timid  people  can  become  leaders.  The  altering  of  facial  features,  by 
means  of  masks  or  face  painting,  has  long  been  associated  with  rites  of 
passage  for  the  same 
reasons. 

A  fifth  element  involves  the  ritual  altering  of  consciousness.  In 
some  cultures,  such  as  in  South  America  and  Africa,  poisonous  plants 
were  ingested  to  cause  delirious  dreams  for  their  rites  of  passage. 
Members  of  some  American  Indian  tribes  used  to  allow  themselves  to  be 
bitten  by  poisonous  snakes  or  scorpions  to  achieve  delirium.  Others 
smoked  marijuana  or  peyote  to  the  same  effect.  In  European  culture,  the 
ritual  consumption  of  alcohol  has  long  been  a  traditional  way  of 
altering  the  consciousness  of  celebrants. 

LA  COURSE  DU  MARDI  GRAS 

The  country  Mardi  Gras  celebration  of  South  Louisiana  differs  from 
its  carnaval  counterparts  in  Mew  Orleans  and  Lafayette.  Like  them,  it 
is  a  processional  festivity,  but  unlike  them,  it  stems  from  the 
medieval  fete  de  la  quemande,  a  ceremonial  begging  tradition,  with 
additional  influences  from  the  frontier  heritage  of  the  Louisiana 
prairies.   The  fete  de  la  quemande  was  celebrated  by  a  procession  of 
revelers  who  travelled  through  the  countryside  offering  some  sort  of 
performance  in  exchange  for  gifts.  Several  modern  celebrations  are 
vestiges  from  this 


89 


same  source:  costumed  children  making  threats  of  trick  or  treat  on 
Halloveen,  Christmas  carolers  singing  for  cups  of  hot  chocolate  or  hot 
toddies,  the  charivari  group  making  noise  outside  a  neighbor's  house 
until  invited  in  for  food  or  drink,  Irish  mummers  performing  impromtu 
plays  from  house  to  house  in  exchange  for  a  drink  during  the  Christmas 
season.  Other  Franco-American  ceremonial  begging  traditions  associated 
with  Hardi  Gras  and  Lent  are  La  Guiqnollee  in  Missouri  and  la  Hi-Careme 
in  Quebec.  The  Hardi  Gras  Indian  tradition  in  Hev  Orleans  is  also 
similar  in  that  bands  of  masked  and  costumed  men  go  from  bar  to  bar  on 
Hardi  Gras  day  singing  and  dancing  vith  the  expectation  of  being 
invited  in  for  a  drink.  Some  notable  Nev  Orleans  music  tKIstems  from 
this  tradition,  including  such  songs  as  "Iko  Iko"  and  "He  Big  Chief." 
Similarly  during  the  course  de  Hardi  Gras,  on  the  southwestern 
Louisiana  prairies,  a  band  of  masked  riders  visit  their  neighbors  in 
the  countryside  around  little  towns,  singing  and  dancing  to  the 
traditional  Hardi  Gras  song  (which  has  its  origins  in  medieval  modal 
music),  at  each  that  will  receive  them.  The  goal  of  these  performances 
is  a  contribution  to  their  communal  gumbo  shared  later  that  day. 
Sometimes  this  is  a  bag  of  flour,  or  rice,  a  sack  of  onions  or  even 
money,  but  ideally  it  is  a  live  chicken  which  the  participants  are 
expected  to  catch  themselves. 

Reinforcing  its  medieval  origins,  the  traditional  costumes  for  the 
course  have  roots  in  medieval  dress.  In  addition  to  the  unavoidable 
modern  clowns,  monsters,  and  cartoon  characters  are  the  conical  hats 
(in  parody  of  noble  women  and  also  long  associated  with  dunces  or 
fools),  mitres  (in  parody  of  the  clergy),  and  more  rarely,  mortarboards 


90 


(in  parody  of  scholars  and  clerics).  False  collars  and  brightly  colored 
costumes  often  in  harlequin  sequences  add  to  the  medieval  flavor.  A 
certain  medieval  atmosphere  is  enhanced  by  the  processional  nature  of 
the  Mardi  Gras  celebration.  Instead  of  taking  place  in  a  fixed 
location,  like  a  festival,  it  moves  through  the  countryside.  Moreover, 
musicians  who  accompany  the  ride  in  a  closed  wagon  following  the  riders 
evokes  images  of  the  jesters  of  the  Middle  Ages  whose  only  role  was  to 
provide  entertainment  for  the  court,  and  just  as  the  jester  never 
really  participated  directly  in  the  festivities  for  which  he  provided 
entertainment,  the  Mardi  Gras  musicians  remain  marginal  figures,  never 
coming  out  of  their  wagon  to  take  part  in  the  activities  of  the 
riders. 

Other  medieval  survivals  have  been  indent if ied  in  Kinder 's  version 
of  the  Mardi  Gras.  There  most  participants  walk  the  entire  way, 
frequently  pretending  to  flog  each  other  with  rolled  burlap  sacks, 
reminiscent  of  the  processions  of  flagellators  who  sought  to  atone  for 
the  sins  of  their  society  during  the  plagues  of  the  Middle  Ages.  There 
also,  brief  spontaneous  plays  are  sometimes  performed,  including  "The 
Dead  Man  Revived, ■  once  popular  among  the  miracle  players  on  the  steps 
of  medieval  cathedrals.  In  this  pre-Authurian  play,  one  participant 
feigns  death  and  his  companions  "revive"  him  by  dropping  wine  or  beer 
into  his  mouth.  An  analogy  to  this  traditional  element  can  also  be 
found  in  ancient  drinking  songs,  like  'Chevalier  de  la  table  ronde. ■ 
and  "Fais  trois  tours  de  la  table  ronde. • 

In  addition  to  its  medieval  begging  celebration  origins,  the  course 
de  Mardi  Gras  is  also  characterized  by  a  mystique  of  toughness 


91 


reminiscent  of  the  days  of  the  American  Wild  West.  The  anonymity  of  the 
masked  riders  provided  an  ideal  reckoning  ground  for  quarreling 
parties.  In  earlier  times  scores  were  often  settled  on  this  day  vith 
bare  fists,  knives  and  even  pistols.  Additionally,  groups  of  riders, 
overwhelmed  by  the  festival  spirit,  mildly  terrorized  many  visited 
households,  forcing  vomen  to  dance,  sometimes  vandalizing  property, 
whether  intentionally  or  accidentally.  While  the  main  party  distracted 
the  hosts  in  the  front  yard,  riders  sometimes  strayed  to  the  back  of 
the  house  to  steal  from  the  kitchen.     Throughout  the  19th  century 
and  even  into  the  early  part  of  the  20th  century,  the  course  de  Hardi 
Gras  could  be  found  in  most  areas  of  French  Louisiana  from  the 
Mississippi  River  to  the  Texas  border.  With  the  arrival  of 
Americanization  and  the  "civilizing"  effect  of  new  schools  and 
churches,  however,  the  often  rowdy  celebration  was  banned  from  many 
communities  and  eventually  disappeared  from  the  annual  cycle  of 
Louisiana  French  folklife.  In  the  early  1950s,  a  group  of  cultural 
activists  in  the  Haraou  area,  under  the  leadership  of  Paul  Tate  and 
Revon  Reed,  undertook  to  revive  the  traditional  Hardi  Gras  run.  They 
sought  guidance  from  older  members  of  the  community,  notably  from 
Lezime  Fontenot,  "Petit  Nan"  Augustine,  and  Harcellus  Deshotels,  who 
remembered  running  Hardi  Gras  and  even  remembered  the  words  of  the 
traditional  Hardi  Gras  song  which  itself  describes  the  nature  of  the 
celebration. 

In  reviving  the  tradition,  Tate  and  Reed  took  great  pains  to  render 
the  celebration  respectable  and  relatively  safe  for  both  riders  and 
hosts,  without  emasculating  the  rite  of  passage.  This  effort,  anchored 


92 


in  the  absolute  control  of  the  capitaine,  encouraged  the  continuation 
of  the  course  by  virtually  eliminating  fights  and  the  element  of 
danger.  There  is,  however,  an  interesting  tension  between  begging  and 
demanding  which  persists  even  today.  Riders  await  permission  to 
approach  a  house,  then  charge  it  as  though  taking  it  by  storm.  They 
then  sing  and  dance  for  an  offering,  then  chase  the  chicken  through  the 
barnyard  as  though  stealing  it.  Riders  play  at  changing  roles  from 
beggar  to  outlaw,  singing  and  dancing  while  intimidating 
non-participants. 

This  celebration  has  since  been  revived  in  several  area  towns, 
including  Church  Point,  Eunice,  Basile,  and  L'Anse  Meg.  There  are  now 
even  a  few  courses  for  women  only,  such  as  in  Petit  Hamou,  near  Basile, 
in  Evangeline  Parish.  Mixture  of  both  sexes  is  rare,  however. 
Ironically,  the  "males  only"  restriction  is  said  to  have  originated 
among  the  women  of  Hamou  who  intended  to  reduce  the  possibility  of 
anonymous  carousing  among  their  men.  Host  other  towns  followed  suit  in 
reviving  their  versions  of  the  celebration.  Among  these  riders,  there 
exists  the  same  sorts  of  sexual  freedoms  that  one  encounters  in  other 
exclusively  male  groups  such  as  sports  teams  or  campers.  For  this 
occasion,  men  do  things  that  they  would  not  ordinarily  do  in  mixed 
company,  such  as  dance  together,  walk  arm  in  arm,  and  embrace  each 
other.  In  fact,  a  popular  custome  motif  involves  the  reversal  of  sexual 
identity  by  wearing  wigs,  dresses  and  even  false  bosoms.  This  kind  of 
activity  happens  frequently  among  who  have  no  doubts  about  their  own 
identities.  The  toughest  men  can  afford  to  play  at  being  feminine 
without  arousing  any  suspicions  concerning  their  sexuality.   The  Hamou 


93 


version  of  the  celebration  by  virtue  of  its  precedence  and  of  its 
deliberate  sense  of  tradition,  provides  an  ideal  model  for 
understanding  the  structure  of  the  country  Mardi  Gras.  A  certain  aura 
of  outlawry  has  not  entirely  vanished  from  the  modern  version  of  the 
celebration  in  Mamou,  vhich  effectively  resists  transformation  into  a 
simple  tourist  attraction  by  its  sheer  toughness.  In  fact,  the 
celebration,  strictly  limited  to  male  participation,  is  sufficiently 
exacting  to  be  a  functional  rite  of  passage  for  the  young  men  of  the 
community.  Reminiscent  of  the  rite  of  passage  in  primitive  societies, 
the  social  initiation  on  the  morning  of  the  ride  is  accentuated  by 
solitude  and  anonymity,  and  all  inhibitions  being  removed,  the  initiate 
passes  through  the  essential  part  of  the  ordeal:   being  all  he  dares  to 
be.  Except  for  the  list  of  rules  imposed  by  the  game  itself,  there  is 
virtually  no  limit  to  the  personal  freedom  of  expression  available  to 
the  rider. 

Participation  in  the  Mamou  Mardi  Gras  can  begin  several  weeks  in 
advance  with  a  series  of  informal  meetings  to  determine  certain 
administrative  roles  for  the  event,  such  as  beer  truck  personnel, 
tractor  drivers  (to  pull  wagons  for  those  without  horses),  and 
musicians,  all  of  whom  will  not  actually  run  in  the  Hardi  Gras.  The 
capitaine,  named  for  life  by  his  predecessor,  choses  his  co-capitaines 
who  will  assist  him  during  the  ride.  Just  as  in  the  American  West, 
often  the  toughest  and  hardest  to  control  become  co-capitaines,  thereby 
channeling  their  energies  in  the  right  direction,  here  are  no 
elections;  the  Mardi  Gras  Riders  Association  makes  no  concessions  to 
democracy.  Brief  business  meetings  quickly  become  rallies,  building 
excitement  for  the  coming  ride. 


9* 


On  the  eve  of  the  celebration,  riders  make  final  preparations  for 
the  course.  These  preparations  are  often  complicated  by  the  fact  that 
■any  riders  handle  horses  once  a  year,  on  Wardi  Gras.  Moreover,  many 
riders,  to  avoid  recognition,  exchanges  horses  several  tines  before 
Hardi  Gras  day,  and  since  many  local  riders  are  in  the  habit  of  playing 
practical  jokes,  or  niches,  on  one  another,  it  is  not  uncommon  on  the 
morning  of  the  ride  to  find  one's  horse  vith  all  the  tail  hairs  pulled 
out  or  some  other  sort  of  mischief. 

After  settling  on  a  plan  for  the  next  day,  riders  usually  convene 
informally  on  the  eve  of  the  ride  in  a  local  bar  for  some 
pre-celebration  festivities.  For  the  past  several  years,  Revon  Reed  has 
presented  an  excerpt  from  "Dedans  le  sud  de  la  Louisiane. "  a 
documentary  film  of  a  previous  Kamou  Hardi  Gras  by  French  filmmaker 
Jean-Pierre  Brunot,  in  Fred's  Lounge  that  evening,  and  most  of  the  men 
in  effect  see  themselves  engaged  in  the  activities  that  they  are  so 
eagerly  awaiting  the  following  day.  As  they  watch  themselves  charging 
farmhouses  on  command  from  the  capitaine,  dancing  wildly,  singing, 
drinking  and  chasing  chickens,  emotions  soar  until  the  audience  is  in  a 
frenzy  of  anticipation.  A  festive  spirit  is  maintained  throughout  the 
evening  with  the  driving  sounds  of  live  Cajun  music  played 
spontaneously  by  a  number  of  local  musicians.  As  one  might  expect,  the 
Hardi  Gras  figures  prominently  in  the  repertoire  of  the  evening.  What 
happens,  then,  resembles  closely  the  ancient  tradition  of  telling  war 
stories  or  singing  epics  of  adventure  to  rally  the  troops  the  night 
before  a  battle. 


95 


At  davn  the  next  morning,  riders  don  their  costumes  and  masks, 
saddle  their  horses  and  start  down  the  country  roads  and  back  streets 
to  join  their  fellovs.  Arriving  at  the  appointed  gathering  place,  the 
local  American  Legion  Hall,  the  brilliantly  arrayed  riders  mill  around, 
usually  somewhat  slowly  because  of  the  revelry  of  the  previous  evening. 
Host  riders  know  one  another  but,  for  a  while  at  least,  they  recognize 
few.  As  time  passes,  the  area  becomes  filled  with  rowdy,  masked 
horsemen.  At  a  certain  point  the  capitaine  requests  that  the  riders 
gather  inside  the  hall  for  the  reading  of  the  rules.  The  capitaine  and 
his  co-capitaines  are  unmasked  so  that  they  may  represent  the  band  of 
revelers  to  each  household  they  visit.  They  are  further  identified  by 
their  cowboy  hats  and  long  multi-colored  capes,  usually  a  two-color 
combination  of  purple,  yellow,  red  and  green.  From  the  time  he  takes 
command  of  the  celebration  at  the  reading  of  the  rules  to  the 
restrained  and  relatively  orderly  re-entry  into  town  later  in  the  day, 
the  capitaine 's  reign  is  absolute.  This  is  a  result  of  a  tacit 
agreement  among  all  riders  who  play  the  game.  For  an  entire  day,  a 
considerable  number  of  adult  males  willingly  suspend  reality  for  the 
sake  of  the  ritual  celebration,  the  very  nature  of  which  demands 
unquestioning  submission  to  the  authority  of  a  chosen  leader  whose  role 
is  to  act  as  intermediary  between  the  madness  of  the  procession  and  the 
outside  world  they  will  visit. 

The  rules  are  read  first  in  French  then  in  English  by  the  capitaine 
who  stands  on  a  chair  to  address  the  riders,  called  Hardi  Gras.  The 
rules  are  designed  to  maintain  a  firm  structural  framework  for  the 
festivities.  Some  are  preventative:  no  Hardi  Gras  shall  advance  beyond 


96 


the  capitaine  on  the  route;  no  Mardi  Gras  shall  enter  private  property 
without  the  explicit  permission  of  the  capitaine;  no  Mardi  Gras  shall 
consume  any  liquor  except  that  which  is  distributed  by  the  capitaine 
and  his  assistants,  no  Mardi  Gras  shall  bear  arms  or  weapons  of  any 
kind,  including  knives,  guns  or  sticks.  Others  are  meant  to  keep  the 
tradition  intact:  no  Mardi  Gras  shall  throw  beads,  doubloons  or 
trinkets  or  any  sort  anywhere  along  the  route;  all  Mardi  Gras  riders 
are  expected  to  dismount  from  horses  and  wagons  to  sing  and  dance  at 
the  homes  which  give  an  offering  for  the  gumbo. 

At  the  end  of  the  English  translation  of  the  rules,  the  riders  file 
through  the  only  unlocked  door  to  be  genuinely  frisked.  This  is  as  much 
to  prevent  women  from  infiltrating  the  ride  as  to  enforce  the  no 
weapons  rule.  The  age  limit  of  eighteen  is  sometimes  mitigated  by 
circumstances  like  the  company  of  a  guardian  or  a  Judgement  of 
maturity.  Riders  then  mount  their  steeds  and  unmounted  troops  mount  the 
wagons.  The  procession  then  leaves  town  to  the  tune  of  the  Mardi  Gras 
song,  which  will  be  played  again  dozens  of  times  during  the  day,  and 
proceeds  under  the  strict  leadership  of  the  capitaine  and  his 
assistants  on  a  predetermined  but  secret  route. 

As  the  procession  approaches  the  first  house,  the  tension  of  the 
previous  evening  begins  to  mount  in  anticipation  of  the  traditional 
charge.  The  capitaine  halts  the  band  of  riders  on  the  road  and  rides 
ahead  alone  with  raised  white  flag  to  ask  the  residents'  permission  to 
enter,  according  to  custom.  If  permission  is  granted,  he  drops  his  flag 
to  signal  the  invitation  to  charge  the   use. 


97 


Surrounding  the  front  yard,  the  riders  dismount  and  begin  singing 
and  dancing  to  the  Kardi  Gras,  played  on  each  visit  by  the  live 
musicians  vho  accompany  the  ride  in  their  ovn  vagon.  Previously  all 
riders  vere  required  to  knov  at  least  a  few  verses  of  the  Hardi  Gras 
song  and  they  sang  it  themselves  during  the  course  of  the  day.  In 
recent  years,  this  tradition  has  faded  somewhat,  and  the  ritual 
performance  of  the  song  has  become  the  responsibility  of  the  musicians. 
Some  of  the  more  daring  riders  might  playfully  snatch  up  the  lady  of 
the  house  and  her  daughters  and  dance  vith  them  in  the  crovd.  Children 
are  often  the  object  of  some  mock  terrorism  by  the  masked  riders, 
sometimes  being  vhisked  avay  from  their  parents  for  a  brief  moment  in 
an  unsolicited  lesson  in  being  avay  from  the  safety  of  home 
and  family. 

After  an  appropriate  amount  of  revelry,  the  man  of  the  house  brings 
out  an  offering  for  the  Hardi  Gras.  This  may  be  flour,  rice,  onions, 
oil,  or  money.  Ideally,  hovever,  it  is  a  live  chicken  which  he  throws 
high  in  the  air.  Those  closest  to  it  chase  it  down  and  the  captor 
jubilantly  holds  up  his  prize  for  all  to  see  before  surrendering  it  to 
one  of  the  co-capitaines  who  will  place  it  in  a  cage  until  it  can  be 
transported  back  to  town  to  find  its  way  into  the  gumbo.  After  a  bit 
more  dancing  and  socializing,  the  capitaine  blows  his  cow  horn  to  call 
the  riders  to  order  and  the  procession  moves  on  to  the  next  house. 

At  regular  intervals  between  houses,  the  capitaine  calls  a  halt  to 
the  procession  for  a  beer  stop.  A  pickup  truck  loaded  with  beer  parks 
in  the  middle  of  the  road  and  the  riders  file  by  to  receive  their 
ration  of  beer  under  the  scrutiny  of  the  co-capitaines.  The  fact  that 
alcohol  consumption  is  controlled  does  not  mean  that  it  is  not  liberal. 


98 


L- 


Many  riders  have  ample  opportunity  to  work  themselves  into  a  state  of 
ritual  inebriation.  This  aspect  of  the  Mardi  Gras,  when  viewed  out  of 
context,  can  make  the  celebration  appear  reckless  and  unkempt.  Yet  it 
can  appear  less  offensive  when  viewed  vith  the  perspective  of  history 
and  tradition  in  terms  of  the  ancient  tradition  of  altered 
consciousness  long  associated  vith  such  rituals. 

Sometimes,  especially  during  these  beer  stops,  a  rider  might  wander 
out  in  front  of  the  group  past  the  capitaine  only  to  be  briskly 
reminded  of  the  rule  requiring  all  riders  to  stay  behind  the  capitaine 
at  all  times.  Errors  are  corrected  sheepishly;  no  one  challenges  the 
authority  of  the  capitaine. 

While  the  riders  show  complete  respect  for  the  capitaine,  they  show 
considerably  less  for  everyone  else.  There  are  always  countless 
photographers,  journalists,  ethnographers,  and  other  such  "foreigners" 
accompanying  the  ride  and,  often  enough,  an  over-zealous  documenter 
will  get  in  the  way  of  a  group  of  riders.  Patience  with  this 
interference  soon  wears  thin  and  more  than  one  visitor  has  found 
himself  surrounded  by  taunting  riders,  pushed  into  a  roadside  ditch  or 
even  stung  by  the  flick  of  a  riding  crop.  Ordinarily,  the  capitaine 
deftly  disregards  these  activities,  owing  allegiance  to  the  ride  itself 
and  not  to  those  who  would  witness  it  from  outside.  The  Hamou  Mardi 
Gras,  by  far  the  most  heavily  documented  of  the  courses,  has  ironically 
also  been  among  the  most  successful  in  resisting  the  media  and 
tourists.  Long-time  capitaine  Jasper  Manuel  answered  requests  for  hand 
signals  to  the  next  house  from  media  personnel  with  a  casual,  "If  I 
think  about  it,  but  as  you  can  imagine,  I've  got  a  lot  of  other  things 


99 


on  my  mind. "  He  usually  remembered  for  a  house  or  tvo,  then  somehov 
forgot,  often  just  before  a  turn  which  effectively  pinned  the  front 
runners  at  the  corner  until  the  procession  vas  safely  past.  On  the 
Church  Point  run  of  1979,  an  ABC  television  crev  filming  a  segment  for 
the  program  20/20  somehov  succeeded  in  having  a  charge  repeated  because 
they  missed  it  the  first  time.  During  this  repeat,  several  horses  fell 
and  at  least  one  rider  received  minor  injuries.  Since  then,  the 
capitaine  has  tended  to  ignore  such  requests  from  the  media. 

Invariably,  horses  and  riders  are  weary  and  ragged  as  they  approach 
the  edge  of  tovn  at  the  end  of  the  long  ride  in  mid-afternoon.  The 
capitaine  orders  a  stop  just  inside  the  city  limits  for  the  riders  to 
regroup,  repair  tack  and  costumes,  and  regain  a  certain  composure  for 
the  grand,  triumphant  re-entry  into  tovn.  Riders  present  themselves  as 
surviving  varriors  to  those  tovnsfolk  vho  did  not  participate  in  the 
ordeal.  With  a  strong  sense  of  brotherhood  based  on  their  shared 
experiences,  they  parade  dovn  the  length  of  the  crovded  main  street  in 
haughty  silence,  once  again  to  the  tune  of  the  Hardi  Gras  song, 
deigning  nov  and  then  to  vave  in  victory  to  the  spectators  along  the 
vay.  Finally,  the  band  of  Cajun  musicians  vho  have  been  performing  for 
a  street  dance  in  tovn  (designed  by  run  organizers  to  keep  as  many 
visitors  as  possible  in  tovn)  give  the  stage  to  the  Hardi  Gras 
musicians  for  a  grand  performance  of  the  Hardi  Gras  song,  vhich  can 
last  up  to  half  an  hour,  vhile  the  riders  dance  in  the  crovd.  Host 
riders  then  retire  to  a  quiet  spot  to  avait  their  hard  earned  supper, 
the  ceremonial  gumbo,  made  vith  chickens  caught  along  the  vay.  Nov  the 
gumbo  must  be  stretched  vith  chickens  from  the  narket  to  feed  the 


100 


growing  multitudes  of  visitors.  Riders  eat  first.  Some  go  home  to  rest 
or  take  their  horses  back  to  the  barn  before  returning  later  for  the 
masked  ball  which  narks  the  final  hours  of  this  final  fling  of  revelry 
before  the  beginning  of  Lent  the  next  day  on  Ash  Wednesday.  All 
festivities  stop  abruptly  at  midnight  and  many  of  Tuesday's  rowdiest 
riders  can  be  found  on  their  knees  receiving  ashes  on  their  foreheads 
on  Wednesday. 


101 


CAJUN  FOLK  MEDICINE 
Jay  Edwards 

Folk  medicine  consists  of  a  body  of  lore  and  practice  having 
to  do  with  identification  and  treating  of  illness  and  injury.  It  also 
deals  with  the  definition  of  illness  and  the  recognition  of  culturally 
defined  syndromes.  Like  the  people  of  most  cultures,  Cajuns  have 
maintained  a  well-defined  body  of  folk  medicine.  Its  practices  occur  at 
two  different  levels  of  Cajun  society.  On  one  hand  there  is  a  large 
body  of  lore  which  is  generally  shared  among  most  older 
Cajunsnr-particularly  those  of  rural  background.  Knowledge  of  how  to 
cure  warts  or  lessen  pain  during  childbirth  fall  into  this  category. 
Another  body  of  lore  is  the  special  preserve  of  the  folk  curer,  the 
traiteur.  Many  special  ailments  may  be  treated  with  the  aid  of  this 
specialist. 

The  Functions  of  Calun  Folk  Medicine 

The  folk  beliefs  and  practices  of  the  Cajuns  function  in  response 
to  a  number  of  specific  problems,  many  of  which  are  not  unique  to 
Acadians.  This  particular  configuration  of  practices  results,  in  part, 
from  the  relative  isolation  and  cultural  homogeneity  of  the  Acadians  in 
Louisiana,  particularly  those  who  settled  west  of  the  Atchafalaya. 
During  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries,  professional  medical 
help  was  generally  unavailable  to  the  common  people  of  the  swamps  and 

i 

prairies.  Even  when  professional  doctors  were  available  they  were  often 
considered  too  expensive  and  too  impersonal.  Folk  medical  practitioners 


103 


met  special  needs  not  treated  by  the  professional  doctor.  They  dealt 
vith  the  spiritual  and  emotional  requirements  of  the  individual  more 
effectively,  perhaps,  than  vith  his  physiological  problems.  To  rural 
Cajuns,  many  folk  cures  vere  considered  superior  to  those  of  the 
professional  physician. 

Until  quite  recently,  only  the  most  serious  injuries  and  illnesses 
vere  treated  by  professionals.  In  contrast  to  the  extreme  sparsity  of 
professional  doctors  in  the  nineteenth  century,  traiteurs  vere  to  be 
found  in  every  community.  Their  treatments  combined  elements  of  the 
mystical  and  the  spiritual  vith  the  practical  and  vellrproven  visdom  of 
the  ages.  Poverful  agents  such  as  Catholic  prayers,  candles,  prayer 
beads  and  the  full  moon  vere  employed  in  order  to  effect  a  cure.  The 
significance  of  such  amulets  and  symbols  vas  that  they  vere  dravn  from 
the  common  belief  system  of  the  Acadian  people.  Everyone  knev  that,  if 
used  only  in  the  correct  manner,  they  vorked.  It  vas  the  traiteur's  job 
to  specialize  in  the  knovledge  of  curing  performance. 

The  Classes  of  Cajun  Folk  Medicine 

In  her  1975  article  on  "The  Folklore  of  Acadiana, ■  Pat  Rickels 
divided  Cajun  folk  medicine  into  four  general  categories.  These  vere: 
1)  faith  healing;  2)  religiormagic  treatments;  3  magic;  and  4)  herbal 
or  purely  materialistic  medicine  (Rickels  1975:152): 

The  first,  faith  healing,  is  both  the  simplest  and  the  most 
spiritual.  It  is  most  often  practiced  by  traiteurs,  vho  believe  they 
have  a  special  charisma,  a  divine  gift  for  healing.  Traiteurs  vho  vork 
through  faith  alone  are  usually  devout  Christians,  most  often 


104 


Catholics,  and  look  upon  their  healing  power  as  an  integral  part  of 
their  religion. 

Typically,  an  individual  traiteur  specializes  in  only  one  or  a  few 
specific  kinds  of  treatment.  The  traiteur  may  cure  sunstroke  or 
bleeding  or  other  conditions  such  as  thrash-a  kind  of  fungus  disease  of 
the  mouth  common  to  young  children.  Curing  performances  are  vary 
individualistic.  A  typical  cure  may  be  accomplished  through  the  laying 
on  of  hands,  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  and  the  mumbling  of  secret 
prayers,  drawn  from  passages  of  the  Bible.  Sometimes,  however,  it  is 
not  necessary  for  the  patient  to  be  in  the  presence  of  the  traiteur  for 
the  cure  to  be  effective. 

Traiteurs  learn  their  trade  from  other  traiteurs.  usually  close 
relatives  of  the  next  ascending  generation.  The  "gift"  is  passed  on 
from  one  person  to  a  trusted  member  of  the  family;  then  it  is  lost  to 
the  one  who  passed  it  on.   Traiteurs  were  always  considered 
particularly  "good"  persons  in  their  communities.  The  title  "doctor" 
was  often  given  to  them.  They  were  never  associated  with  voodoo  or 
hoodoo  doctors,  however.  It  is  clear  that  traiteurs  were  considered  to 
be  of  the  same  status  as  professional  doctors.  Traiteurs  generally 
requested  no  compensation  for  their  services.  Some  even  preferred  not 
to  be  thanked  at  all  as  this  would  lessen  the  charitable  nature  of 
their  deeds.  Some  informants  report  that  traiteurs  sometimes  did  accept 
remuneration  for  their  services,  but  always  in  kind  rather  than  in  the 
form  of  money.  The  gift  of  a  chicken,  some  game  or  some  potatoes  would 
suffice. 


105 


In  the  past,  the  most  popular  fora  of  folk  medicine  In  Acadlana  has 
been  vhat  Rickels  calls  rellgio-naglc  treatment.  It  relies  on  some 
physical  agent  which  has  been  blessed  or  charmed  through  a  religious 
act.  The  agent  may  be  officially  blessed,  as  in  the  case  of  holy  water, 
or  it  may  be  blessed  on  the  spot  as  a  part  of  the  treatment  itself. 
Infants  and  children  are  often  "cured"  by  placing  a  string  about  a 
portion  of  their  body.  The  string  has  a  specified  number  of  knots 
("balls")  tied  in  itr-ioften  nine.  The  same  number  of  prayers  are  said 
at  the  time  it  is  placed.  The  string  is  then  left  in  place  until  it 
falls  off.  By  the  time  the  string  falls  off  the  harmful  condition 
should  have  disappeared.  So  strongly  did  some  people  feel  about  the 
efficacy  of  this  method  of  curing  that  doctors  treating  sick  children 
often  left  the  curing  strings  in  place. 

Another  example  of  a  popular  religiormagic  treatment  is  the 
"Litany  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. "  A  prayer  is  vritten  on  a  sheet  of  paper 
in  the  form  of  a  cross.   Such  a  sheet  is  believed  to  hold  certain 
miraculous  povers  including  the  prevention  of  epileptic  seizures, 
bodily  injuries,  and  the  reduction  of  pain  in  childbirth.  Religior-magic 
healing  is  carried  out  vithout  the  aid  of  a  traiteur. 

Some  Cajuns  practiced  pure  magic  in  curing.  Catholic  (or  other 
religious)  practices  played  no  role  in  this  form  of  treatment.  Acadian 
magic  vas  not  unlike  other  forms  of  magic  practiced  videly  in  the 
vorld.  Much  of  its  symbolism  relied  on  the  twin  principles  of  contagion 
and  visual  similarity.  Evils  such  as  illness  may  be  transmitted  through 
a  ritual  in  vhich  contact  vith  some  agent  permits  it  to  be  drained  avay 
from  the  body  of  the  victim.  Note  that  this  kind  of  transfer  can  work 
tvo  ways,  both  for  and  against  veil  being.  In  Acadiana,  for  example, 


106 


there  has  been  a  belief  that  warts  may  be  cured  by  pricking  then  with  a 
sharp  object,  allowing  the  blood  to  drop  onto  some  gains  of  corn,  and 
then  getting  a  chicken  to  eat  the  grains  of  corn.   The  chicken  will 
develop  the  warts  and  the  victim  will  loose  them.  The  ■scapegoat" 
theory  of  ancient  magic  is  still  alive  in  such  folk  practices,  and  they 
are  not  unique  to  Acadian  Americans.  Most  such  beliefs  and  practices 
have  close  parallels  in  the  folk  medicine  of  Angloi-America  and  other 
areas  settled  by  Europeans. 

Homeopathic  magic  is  also  practiced.  As  defined  by  Sir  James 
Frazer,  this  Herbal  medicine  has  been  popular  in  Acadiana  since  the 
earliest  days  of  settlement.  It  involves  the  collection  of  wild  or 
domesticated  plants  for  curative  purposes.  The  derivatives  of  these 
plants  are  believed  to  work  empirically,  rather  than  through  spiritual 
force.  Different  substances  are  Ingested  or  applied  to  various  portions 
of  the  body,  not  only  plants  but  other  common  substances  as  well.  They 
may  be  made  into  salves,  greases,  teas  or  poultices.  For  example,  egg 
white  and  spider  webs  are  used  in  poultices  to  draw  out  splinters  and 
to  stop  bleeding,  respectively.  Various  commercially  available  products 
are  also  employed  for  folk  cures.  For  example,  Octagon  soap,  kerosene, 
and  liquors  are  employed  in  folk  cures.  Patent  medicines  of  the  late 
nineteenth  and  early  twentieth  centuries  are  also  still  relied  upon, 
despite  the  fact  that  they  are  long  out  of  favor  with  modern  medicine. 

Typical  examples  of  Acadian  folk  cures  and  practices  are  described 
below. 


107 


Examples  of  Cajun  Folk  Remedies 

The  following  examples  of  folk  remedies  are  dravn  from  a  the 
fieldvork  of  Haida  Bergeron.  In  the  spring  of  1975  she  collected  157 
curing  practices  and  beliefs  from  vomen  in  Assumption  Parish.  Cures  for 
colds  and  many  other  kinds  of  illnesses  vere  collected.  The  people  of 
this  parish  are  typical  of  rural  Acadiana.  Her  informants  lived  in  the 
vicinity  of  Lake  Verret.  They  are  less  wellrtordo  and  more  isolated 
than  most  Acadians  but  like  the  descendants  of  the  original  Acadian 
population,  they  exhibit  a  high  degree  of  independence  and 
selfr-reliance.  Fev  slaves  vere  brought  into  the  area,  for  example, 
because  the  inhabitants  could  not  afford  to  purchase  them.  The  families 
vere  of  relatively  "pure"  Acadian  stock. 

In  the  following  list  of  remedies,  the  locations  of  similar 
practices  are  listed  in  brackets.  Although  these  locations  cannot  be 
said  to  indicate  the  sources  of  Acadian  folk  medical  practices,  in  many 
cases,  similar  practices  derive  from  similar  locations. 

COLDS.  Take  hot  pepper,  whiskey  and  sugar  and  boil  it  into  a  drink. 

Then  go  to  bed.   Pour  turpentine  (alternate:  tallow)  on  a  piece  of 

flannel  and  put  that  on  your  chest  for  nine  days. 

CONGESTION.  Burn  sugar  in  a  pot  and  inhale  the  vapors. 

CROUP.  Take  hot  coffee  sweetened  and  melt  butter  in  it. 

SORE  THROAT.  Take  a  little  hot  wateri  not  too  hot.  Gargle  with 

salt.  Throw  it  away  three  times. 


108 


FEVER.  Camphor  or  alcohol  rubs  and  aspirin,  then  drink  l'herb  a 

malot  (swamp  lily  root  soaked  in  water) . 

STOMACHACHE.  Castor  oil.   Place  a  warm  plate  on  the  stomach. 

Put  a  small  drop  of  anise  in  water  and  drink  it. 

CONSTIPATION.   Buy  Black  Draught  from  the  drugstore.   It  used  to  be 

in  the  dry  form  so  you  had  to  scald  it  first.   After  that,  drink 

Sweet  Bay  Tea  or  l'herbe  a  malot. 

CUTS.  Use  Black  Salve  (Ichthanmol)  from  the  drugstore.  Put  a 

spider  web  on  it  to  stop  bleeding.  Salt  meat  fat  and  turpentine 

(kerosine),  tied  to  the  place  where  the  cut  is. 

INFECTED  CUT.  Use  la  mauve  (a  curly,  crawling  grass).  Smash  it  and 

put  it  on  the  cut. 

BLOOD  POISONING.  Catch  a  big  old  cockroach  and  put  it  in  whisky. 

Put  it  on  an  infection  for  several  days. 

WORMS.  Take  a  little  muslin  sack  and  put  garlic  in  it.  Tie  it 

around  a  child's  neck.  It  will  stop  them  from  having  worms. 

BABY  CUTTING  TEETH.  Put  an  odd  number  of  alligator  teeth  around  its 

neck. 

BEE  STING.  Take  some  wet  chewing  tobacco  and  put  it  on  the  sting. 

It  will  stop  burning. 

IMPURE  BLOOD.  Mix  sulfur  and  water.   Take  it  for  nine  days.   Creme 

of  tartar  with  Lemonade  or  water  will  purify  the  blood.   It's  taken 

nine  days  in  spring  and  fall.   The  lemonade  just  makes  it  taste 

better. 

HANGOVER.   Drink  another  one. 


109 


COLIC.  Buy  Paregoric. 

IMPETIGO.   If  you  have  Indian  Fire,  you  stand  in  front  of  the 

armoire  or  the  kitchen  safe  and  fan  yourself  with  the  doors  nine 

times  for  nine  days. 

ARTHRITIS  OR  RHEUMATISM.  Make  a  brass  or  copper  bracelet  and  keep 

it  on  the  place  that  hurts.  Don't  take  it  off  or  the  pain  will  hit 

you  hard. 

WARTS.  "This  lady  treated  a  wart  on  my  leg.  She  rubbed  a  nickel  on 

it  and  she  said  something  like,  'Whoever  you  spend  this  nickel  to, 

is  gonna  catch  it.'   And  you  know,  the  guy  got  one  and  mine  had 

gone  away."  [This  is  known  as  "selling  a  wart"  in  Anglo-Saxon 

folklore. ] 

NOSEBLEED.   Make  a  cross  of  sticks  on  the  ground.   Hold  the  child 

so  that  the  blood  will  drip  onto  the  cross.   It'll  stop. 

SUNSTROKE.   Go  to  a  traiteur.   They  give  you  some  flowers  of  the 

chinaball  or  lilac  tree.   "They  tie  the  leaves  all  around  your  head 

to  get  the  fever  out.   She  never  charges  you  but  you  may  give  her  a 

donation.   You  know  prayers  never  hurt  anyone." 

FALLEN  TONSILS.   "There  used  to  be  an  old  man  who  could  treat  la 

luette  in  bas .   He  would  find  this  little  area  on  top  of  your  head 

that  had  fallen  down  and  he'd  gather  some  hair  there  and  give  it  a 

jerk.   You'd  hear  it  pop,  and  the  tonsils  were  back  in  place. 

MENSTRUAL  FLOW.   "In  our  period,  my  mamma  wouldn't  let  us  go 

swimming.   They  said  it  would  stop  your  period.   'It's  gonna  kill 

ya'll.   It  won't  stop!'   (We  went  swimming  anyway.)" 


110 


Interpretation  of  Acadian  Folk  Cures 

Acadian  folk  medicine/  like  so  many  other  aspects  of  this  culture, 
is  a  blending  of  elements  from  numerous  and  far-flung  sources.  The 
oldest  identifiable  source  is  clearly  Greek  herbal  and  homeopathic 
medicine.  The  use  of  sulfur  in  water  to  purify  the  blood,  for  example 
is  reported  in  Greek  sources  (Gunther,  1959:643).  Indeed,  the  near 
obsession  of  many  Cajuns  with  blood  purity,  may  derive  ultimately  from 
Greece.  Like  the  ancient  Greeks,  the  French  and  modern  Cajuns  use  alum 
to  cure  cold  sores,  fats  (to  "warm  and  mollify  the  body"),  egg  white  as 
a  cure  for  eye  troubles  and  bags  of  salt  to  ease  the  pain  of 
toothache.   Perhaps  the  most  dominant  source  for  Acadian  folk  medicine 
is  post  medieval  French  homeopathic  medicine.  The  French  used  rose 
water  to  wash  out  the  eyes,  just  as  Cajuns  do  today.  Many 
French-derived  cures  are  still  common  to  French  Canada  as  well  as 
Louisiana.  The  plant,  la  mauve,  for  example,  is  unknown  in  English  folk 
medicine.  It  is  mentioned  in  Gagon's  Le  folklor  Bourbonnais  (1947:219, 
239)  as  being  one  of  the  four  traditional  "ramolitives"  or  relaxer 
plants.  La  Mauve  was  used  for  constipation.  The  emphasis  on  herbal 
preventatives  also  appears  to  derive  from  eighteenth  century  French 
medicine.  The  use  of  a  tea  made  from  peach  tree  leaves,  still  used 
today,  may  be  derived  from  the  peach  flower  syrup  brought  to  Louisiana 
by  French  colonial  doctors  in  1730  (Duffy  1958:  59).  Lemons  were 
believed  to  have  preventative  powers  by  French  colon: al  doctors  and 
turpentine  was  introduced  zy   the  same  doctors  in  1731.  Other  cures  with 


111 


direct  parallels  in  French  areas  include  using  a  warm  plate  for 
stomachache  or  cramps,  putting  vinegar  on  ringworm,  and  treating 
headache  with  prayers  (by  a  Traiteur) . 

Certain  plant  cures  such  as  tobacco  (infections)  and  sassafras 
(blood  purification)  are  derived  from  American  Indian  traditions. 
Cajuns  use  tobacco  poultices  for  bee  stings,  headaches,  snakebites, 
boils  and  other  problems.  The  popularity  of  tobacco  may  represent  a 
reintroduction  of  the  use  of  this  plant,  which  was  believed  to  be  a 
panacea  after  it  was  introduced  into  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
Other  practices,  such  as  the  use  of  bags  of  garlic  tied  about  the 
ankles  to  prevent  snakebite,  are  almost  certainly  not  Aboriginal, 
though  they  are  attributed  to  American  Indians  by  Acadian  informants. 

Many  traditional  Acadian  cures  derive  from  the  best  medical  thought 
of  the  late  eighteenth  and  early  nineteenth  centuries.  A  medical 
handbook  of  1812  recommends  wearing  garlic  around  the  neck  as  a  cure 
for  worms,  for  example.   Camphor  was  a  popular  element  in  the  control 
of  fevers  in  the  early  19th  century.   Epson  salts  was  recommended  as  a 
laxative  in  medical  manuals  as  late  as  the  early  20th  century.  The  use 
of  salt  as  a  gargle  for  sore  throat,  lemon  and  honey  for  a  cough,  and 
paragoric  for  colic  also  fall  into  the  category  of  survivals  from 
earlier  medical  practice.  As  such,  they  are  not  unique  to  Cajun 
culture,  of  course. 

Some  of  the  cures  found  around  Lake  Verret  do  seem  to  be  unique  to 
Louisiana  Cajuns.  The  herbes,  la  mauve  and  l'herbe  a  malot  are  us*ed  in 


112 


several  cures.  Burning  a  cane  reed  under  an  infection,  and  putting 
garlic  around  a  baby's  neck  to  cure  worms  are  cures  not  recorded  in 
other  areas  of  the  state  or  nation. 

Though  much  of  this  early  medicine  has  been  replaced  and  long 
forgotten  by  modern  technical  medical  science,  it  persists  in  varying 
degrees  among  the  folk  of  the  rural  isolates  of  North  America/  such  as 
Acadiana. 


113 


CAJUN  FOLK  LAW 
Janet  Shoemaker  and  Jay  Edwards 

Very  little  mention  is  made  of  folklaw  among  Cajuns  in  the 
literature.   The  topic  most  often  addressed  in  relation  to  social  mores 
is  courtship  and  marriage.   These  rules  mentioned  are  usually  held 
within  the  context  of  the  fais-do-do;  i. e.  the  consequences  of  a  young 
lady  leaving  the  dance  hall  unescorted  by  her  mother  (Del  Sesto, 
1975:127;  Post,  1974:154).   Other  accounts  pertain  to  the  aquiring  of 
permission  by  the  young  man  to  escort  a  young  lady  anywhere  (Collard, 
1975:113)  and  the  ostracizing  of  an  unwed  mother  from  the  home  and 
society  until  marriage  (East,  1980:32).   Many  books  dealing  with  the 
social  life  of  Cajuns  mention  the  oldrtime  courting  practices  which  are 
no  longer  in  effect  in  most  of  Acadiana  today. 

Along  a  different  line,  Del  Sesto  (1975)  refers  to  the  cockfights 
of  South  Lousiana  and  the  rules  that  prevail  in  that  social  situation. 
Every  man  must  support  the  cock  of  his  primary  social  group  within  the 
community,  even  if  it  is  a  losing  cock.  Failure  to  cheer  on  one's 
group's  cock  will  result  in  justified  ridicule  and  humiliation  from  the 
others  of  one's  group. 

The  subject  of  folklaw  in  reference  to  boundary  disputes  among  the 
fishermen  and  hunters  of  the  bayous  is  minimal  in  the  literature. 
There  seem  to  be  three  categories  of  writers:   those  who  are  writing 
for  research  purposes,  those  who  have  lived  with  Cajuns  and  are  writing 
about  them,  and  those  who  are  Cajuns  themselves  and  are  writing  about 
the  wonderful  simplicity  of  their  lives.   All  three  are  as  equally 


115 


uninterested  in  writing  about  the  legal  (or  nonrlegal)  disputes  that 
take  place  in  the  marshes  and  swamps,  but  are  more  interested  in 
uplifting  the  virtues  of  Cajunism.   However,  several  sources  were  found 
to  make  minimal  Mention  of  these  sorts  of  cases. 

The  most  elaborate  desciption  of  this  sort  of  situation  cones  from 
Comeaux  (1972,  20)  who  claims  that  the  concept  of  "fishing  grounds"  is 
strong.   And  individual  will  consider  a  particular  river  or  bayou  his 
own  personal  property,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  it  is  legally 
federal  territory.   Hyde  (1932,  9)  notes  that  one's  neighbors  recognize 
his  claim  and  don't  question  his  rights  to  that  property  if  he  doesn't 
infringe  on  theirs.   Consequently,  any  man  who  consistently  maintains  a 
certain  area  is  recognized  to  have  a  claim  on  that  area;  others  can 
travel  through,  but  must  not  use  it  for  economic  purposes  (Comeaux, 
1972:21).   Hyde  notes,  however,  that  parish  officers  are  occasionally 
called  in  to  settle  a  dispute  over  a  claim.   He  also  briefly  mentions 
that  one  who  moves  his  houseboat  to  different  locations  where  fish  are 
biting  is  very  likely  to  cause  a  stir  among  his  more  settled  neighbors. 

Disputes  do  arise,  for  it  is  noted  that  there  are  means  for 
dealing  with  tresspassers,  although  there  are  very  few  accounts  or 
specifics  given.   Kammer  (1941,  104)  sums  it  up  under  the  term 
"trapper's  justice"  used  in  the  marsh  areas  wherein  a  landi-user  is 
justified  in  shooting  anyone  caught  tresspassing  on  his  trapping  land. 
Comeaux  (1972,  20)  also  mentions  that  the  fishermen  in  the  swamps  think 
it  perfectly  acceptable  to  use  whatever  force  is  necessary  to  remove 
someone  from  their  fishing  grounds. 


116 


Hallovell  (1979,  46r47)  gives  a  tresspassing  account  told  to  him 
by  an  old  trapper  in  the  marsh.   The  old  gentleman  vas  running  his 
traps  one  day  vhen  he  spotted  the  sheriff  duckhunting  on  his  property. 
After  Informing  the  sheriff  that  he  vas  tresspassing,  at  vhich  the 
sheriff  made  no  move  to  leave,  the  old  man  popped  him  one  in  the  face. 
Naturally,  the  case  vas  taken  to  court,  but  he  had  connections  and  the 
judge  let  him  off,  and  the 
sheriff  vas  never  seen  out  his  vay  again. 

Another  cause  of  conflict  approached  by  Comeaux  (1972,  40)  is  the 
presence  of  sportsmen  in  the  marshes.   On  the  vhole,  the  activities  of 
the  sportsmen  and  the  commercial  fishermen  balance  each  other  out,  but 
sport  fishermen  vill  steal  fish  out  of  the  commercials'  nets,  tear  them 
up,  and  have  a  general  disregard  for  the  fishermen  in  general.   The 
problem  is  compounded  by  the  fact  that  sportsmen  have  much  more 
political  clout  than  the  poor  fisherman  vho  makes  a  living  by  fishing. 
Comeaux  does  not  give  any  specific  incidents.   Hallovell  (1979,  47) 
again  tells  of  the  old  trapper's  problems  vith  sportsmen.   Spotting 
three  sportsmen  after  an  otter  in  one  of  his  traps  one  day,  his  ire  vas 
quickly  aroused.   He  ran  tovard  them  yelling  and  vaving  his  shotgun  in 
a  threatening  manner  at  vhich  the  sportsmen  ran. 

Aside  from  the  boundary  disputes,  the  problem  of  fur  buying  and 
selling  has  been  a  problem  in  the  marshes  and  swamps  for  years.   In  a 
1941  account  of  the  problem,  Kanmer  (p.  92)  briefly  summarizes  the 
hietory  of  the  property  rights  in  the  bayous  and  the  federal 
governments'  more  recent  claims  to  the  land  and  the  demand  for  shares 
from  the  trappers  and  hunters.   He  reports  that  there  vere  incidents  of 
violence  in  the  St.  Bernard  area  over  tresspassing  claims  due  to  the 


117 


requirement  that  trappers  and  fishers  had  to  get  a  permit  to  vork  in 
any  area  not  privately  ovned.   From  1924rl935,  Kamner  claims  that  the 
Timesr-Picayune  reported  continual  flarerups.   By  1941,  the  trappers 
vere  paying  rent  to  trap  on  government  land,  and  apparently,  the 
problems  and  disputes  had  been  somewhat  resolved. 

Ramsey  (1957,  182i-201)  gives  an  account  of  a  family  she  stayed 
vith  and  their  attempts  to  cheat  the  buyers  vho  bought  their  best  furs 
at  very  lov  prices.   She  joined  them  on  a  mock  funeral  one  night  as 
they  carried  "Tante  Chloe"  dovn  the  river  in  a  coffin  to  an  illegal 
buyer  vho  gave  them  a  better  price  for  their  furs. 

Other  disregards  for  hunting  and  trapping  restrictions  are 
mentioned  by  Comeaux  (1972,  93).   "Outlaying",  which  consists  of  either 
hunting  out  of  season,  or  hunting  illegal  game,  is  fairly  common  among 
svampdvellers  as  they  see  no  reason  vhy  they  should  change  their 
hunting  habits,  or  stop  taking  vhat  they  can  use.  Once  again,  sportsmen 
vith  political  clout  have  restricted  their  hunting  vhich  provides  the 
mainstay  of  their  diet.   Comeaux  relates  of  at  least  one  game  varden's 
claim  to  have  arrested  almost  every  man  in  the  village  at  least  once 
for  a  violation. 


118 


GAMES 

Children's  games 
Barry  Jean  Ancelet 

Like  most  elements  of  Louisiana  French  culture,  traditional  Cajun 
children's  games  vere  usually  improvised.  Host  vere  very  simple 
requiring  no  props  or  ones  easily  found  around  the  house  or  on  the 
farm.  They  vere  also  creolized.  Some  vere  brought  from  France.  Others 
vere  adopted  from  neighboring  cultures.  Many  vere  made  up  on  the  spot 
and  lasted  only  the  time  they  took  to  play  themselves  out.  Others  vere 
somewhat  more  durable  and  vere  passed  on  from  one  generation  to  the 
next.  In  the  countryside,  children  of  a  fairly  vide  range  of  ages 
played  together.  Later,  schools  began  to  narrov  the  age  distribution  of 
groups  as  children  tended  to  play  vithin  their  classes. 

Games  are  an  extremely  regional  and  highly  variable  tradition.  It 
vould  be  impossible  to  record  all  the  variant  games  and  names  for  those 
games  throughout  south  Louisiana.  This  report  is  not  intended  to  be 
exhaustive.  It  is  rather  intended  to  present  an  overviev  vith 
representative  examples  to  give  a  general  idea  of  the  tradition  of 
historical  children's  games  among  the  Cajuns. 

Infant  games  include  primarily  those  activities  vhich  parents  do 
vith  their  babies.  Host  of  these  are  simple  and  improvised,  like  0 
wais  arrete.  vhich  is  essentially  a  chase  game,  equivalent  to  "I'm 
going  to  get  you. "   Ride  le  cheval  is  played  by  a  child  and  a  sitting 
parent  vho  crosses  his/her  legs  and  seats  the  child  on  the  raised  foot, 
moving  it  to  simulate  a  horse's  motion.  This  game  is  usually 


119 


accompanied  by  the  chant,  "Petit  galop,  petit  galop. ■  and  Is  often 
ended  with  the  word,  "Whoa. • 

Ring  games  required  a  group  and  were  usually  played  indoors  when 
inclement  weather  prevented  children  from  going  outside.  In  cache-cache 
la  bague,  one  player  hid  a  small  token,  usually  a  ring,  in  his/her 
hands  and  pretended  to  pass  it  to  each  of  the  other  players,  dropping 
in  the  hands  of  one,  all  the  while  saying,  'Cache-cache  la  bague. " 
Afterwards,  players  had  to  guess  which  one  of  them  actually  had  the 
token,  among  much  bluffing  and  counter  bluffing. 

In  Petit  mouton,  la  gueue  coupee,  a  player  walked  around  the  room 
holding  a  handkerchief  behind  his  back,  chanting,  "Petit  mouton,  la 
queue  coupee. "  while  walking  around  the  other  players  sitting  in  a 
circle  facing  the  center.  At  one  point  he  dropped  the  handkerchief 
behind  one  of  the  players.  The  players  were  to  guess  when  he  dropped 
the  handkerchief  behind  them  and  catch  it.  He  continued  walking  around 
the  circle  until  he  arrived  at  the  place  where  he  dropped  the 
handkerchief  to  see  if  it  was  still  there.  If  it  was,  he  picked  it  up 
and  resumed  his  part.  If  a  player  did  notice,  he  would  pick  up  the 
handkerchief  and  try  to  tag  the  walker  before  he  reached  his  place  in 
the  circle. 

Another  group  game  was  faire  la  statue  in  which  the  players  moved 
about  freely  until  the  leader  told  them  to  stop.  They  would  then  freeze 
in  position.  The  leader  would  then  pick  the  most  interesting  as  the 
next  leader. 

Word  games  were  especially  popular  at  night  and  during  inclement 
weather  when  children  were  forced  to  stay  indoors.   Pin-pi-po-lo-ron 


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vas  a  counting  rhyme  often  used  to  determine  vho  vas  going  to  be  it  in 
other  games.  It  vas  also  played  to  determine  vho  vould  receive  some 
other  token  revard  or  punishment,  such  as  banishment  to  a  corner  or  a 
pichenet  (finger  thump).  One  version  (there  are  many)  of  the  chant 
goes: 

Pin-pi -po-lo-ron 

Va  aller  faire  son  pot  de  lait 

Bouillir  chez  Madame  Michelle  Aimee 

Si  il  vient  une  petite  souris. 

Foutez-la  un  coup  de  baton 

Derriere  la  tete. 
In  this  version,  each  player  put  a  finger  in  a  circle.  The  rhyme  vas 
performed  by  a  leader  vho  touched  a  different  finger  vith  each 
syllable.  The  player  on  vhose  finger  the  rhyme  ended  had  to  leave  the 
room  and  the  leader  vent  to  ask  if  he/she  preferred  to  return  by  plume 
ou  piquant.  If  by  plume  he/she  vas  taken  back  into  the  room  by  the 
hair;  if  by  piquant,  he/she  vas  dragged  by  the  foot.  (Reported  by 
Thomas  Guidry,  Louisiana  French  Folklore  student  collection,  1978; 
USL/FA)  Other  versions  have  the  exiled  player  try  to  guess  a  number  or 
a  color  to  reenter.   Another  vord  game,  Pirn  pam,  vas  like  an  extended 
knock-knock  joke.  It  sounded  like  parody  of  traditional  greeting 
patterns  in  vhich  people  try  to  determine  extended  family  connections, 
and  provided  an  opportunity  to  catch  an  unsuspecting  partner  at  the 
end:   Pirn  pam.  Qui  c'est  qu'est?  C'est  moi.  Dede.  Quel  Dede?  Dede 
LaCart.  Quel  LaCart?  LaCart  Boyeau.  Quel  Boyeau?   Boyeau  Lison. Quel 
Lison?  Lison  Cochon.  Quel  Cochon?  Cocho  toi-meme.   Some  vord  games  vere 


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tests  of  agility  and  were  accompanied  by  gestures.  In  Pigeon  vole,  each 
player  placed  a  finger  on  the  floor  or  a  table  before  them.  A  leader 
called  out  various  animals  and  things  (Pigeon  vole,  papillon  vole. 
mogueur  vole,  carencro  vole,  mouche  vole...).  Players  vere  to  raise 
their  fingers  only  vhen  the  animal  could  actually  fly.  The  leader  tried 
to  catch  players  by  slipping  in  other  animals  or  things  vhich  can  not 
fly  ( brigue  vole,  maison  vole,  serpent  vole,  cochon  vole. . . ) . 

Some  children  developed  secret  languages,  Louisiana  French 
versions  of  "pig  latin, •  adding  the  first  consonant  of  each  word  to  the 
syllable  egue  at  the  end  of  each  vord,  as  in  "u-tegue  as-vegue 
as-pegue  al-egue-er-legue  (Tu  vas  pas  aller).  There  were  also  taunts 
and  cheers,  used  as  epithets. 

Running  games  required  only  the  participation  of  several  children, 
usually  pitting  one  person  against  the  rest  of  the  group.  In  these 
games,  the  person  chosen  to  be  it  was  often  called  le  chien.  Some  of 
these  games  included  25  bas  and  25  haut.  variations  on  tag  in  which 
being  either  on  Mr  off  the  ground  was  considered  safe  or  base. 
Cache-et-fait.  was  a  Louisiana  French  version  of  Hide-and-Seek. 

Danses  rondes.  or  round  dances,  were  the  Louisiana  French 
equivalent  to  the  Anglo-American  play  party  songs  and  dances,  like 
■Ring  Around  the  Roses, ■  and  "Shoo  Fly,  ■  in  which  groups  of 
participants  danced  to  the  their  own  singing.  These  were  especially 
popular  among  pre-adolescent  children.  For  many,  this  was  a  preliminary 
step  toward  courtship  as  a  first  introduction  to  dancing  and 
socializing  with  the  opposite  sex.  As  group  dances,  they  were  less 
engaged  than  the  couple  dancing  which  would  come  later.  There  were 


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special  songs  associated  vith  the  dances.  In  certain  cases,  like 
"Papillon.  vole*  and  *Ah  won  beau  chateau. ■  the  dancers  acted  out  the 
lines  of  the  song  vith  stylized  movements. 

In  cache  le  fouet.  one  player  hid  a  vhip  or  a  svitch.  The  other 
players  searched  for  it,  vith  assistance  from  the  hider  in  the  form  of 
hot  and  cold  instructions:  "T'es  dans  le  feu"  or  "T'es  dans  l'eau. " 
When  a  player  found  the  vhip  or  svitch,  he  chased  the  other  players 
vith  it,  vhipping  then  if  he  could,  until  they  reached  base. 

Hand  rolled  clay  balls  vere  made  of  terre  qrasse.  the  clay  found 
along  bayou  and  coulee  banks  and  dried  in  the  shade  (to  avoid  cracking) 
to  shoot  in  slingshots.  Slingshots  vere  made  by  hand  from  the  forks  of 
trees,  ideally  a  bois  de  fleche  (sage  orange),  tvo  strips  of  rubber, 
usually  from  discarded  inner  tubes,  and  a  small  piece  of  leather.  Many 
children  became  very  skillful  vith  a  slingshot  and  vere  able  to  hunt 
birds  vith  them.  A  single-armed  slingshot,  called  a  bayonette.  vas  also 
popular.  It  vas  used  to  hurl  specially  carved  pieces  of  cypress 
bardeaux  (shingles).  Contests  vere  held  to  see  vho  vas  able  to  fling 
these  pieces  farthest.   Caniques  (marbles),  vere  also  made  of  terre 
qrasse  by  hand.  Some  marbles  improvised  from  small  balls  of  tightly 
rolled,  hard-tanned  leather.  Store  bought  marbles  like  stouns  (agates) 
and  aciers  (steels)  vere  considered  luxuries  and  vere  sometimes  given 
as  special  presents  to  children  after  selling  the  annual  crop. 
Traditional  marble  games  vere  called  grand  rond  and  rond  fait. 

Some  games  required  specialized  equipment  vhich  vas  bought  in 
stores  or  from  commie  voyaqeurs,  or  travelling  salesmen,  if  the 
families  could  afford  it.  If  not,  children  often  made  or  improvised 


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equipment  at  home  vith  available  materials.   Baseball  vas  popular,  and 
bats  vere  sometimes  made  of  old  broom  or  hoe  handles  or  from  whittled 
bois  d'arc,  or  sage  orange  branches.  Balls  vere  often  improvised  as 
veil:  cotton  seeds,  corn  husks,  and  pieces  of  leather  covered  vith 
leather  or  stuffed  into  a  sock,  or  a  ball  of  tightly-vound  string  or 
leather. 

A  cross  betveen  golf  and  field  hockey  vas  called  la  vieille  truie 
or  Bibi. la  truie.   This  could  be  played  vith  tvo  teams  or  tvo  persons. 
Each  side  tried  to  put  its  ball  into  the  other  side's  hole  (called 
"faire  boire  la  vieille  truie* )  by  hitting  it  vith  sticks,  vhile  trying 
to  prevent  the  other  side  from  putting  its  ball  into  its  ovn  hole. 
Often  these  balls  vere  actually  small  tomato  cans.  Opponents  could  hit 
the  ball  or  can  hard  to  send  it  as  far  as  possible  from  his/her  ovn 
hole. 

Balls  vere  also  used  in  games  like  Tant  gu'elle  est  chaude, 
essentially  a  version  of  dodge  ball  in  vhich  a  leader  rolled  a  small 
ball  tovard  a  line  of  three-inch  holes.  Each  hole  represented  one 
player.  When  the  ball  vent  into  a  hole,  it  became  "hot"  upon  vhich  the 
player  vhose  hole  this  vas  took  the  ball  and  threv  it  at  the  other 
players.  Any  player  vho  vas  hit  vith  the  ball  vhile  it  vas  hot  vas  then 
eliminated.  The  ball  "cooled"  vhen  it  hit  a  predetermined  number  of 
players.  The  last  player  in  the  game  vas  the  vinner.  Another  version  of 
this  game  played  vith  sticks  vas  la  pelote  dans  le  trou. 

Still  another  version  of  dodge  ball  vas  called  La  pelote  guatre 
buts.  Four  players  stood  one  on  each  of  four  bases,  arranged  in. a 
square  about  40'  or  50'  apart,  and  tossed  a  ball  to  each  other.  Other 


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players  stood  in  the  square.  If  a  player  caught  the  ball,  he/she  vas 
allowed  to  throw  It  at  the  ones  In  the  middle.  If  a  player  was  hit, 
he/she  was  out.  If  a  player  on  a  base  dropped  the  ball  when  it  was 
tossed,  he/she  changed  places  with  one  of  the  players  in  the  middle. 

A  game  called  batons  was  played  with  pointed  sticks  about  two  to 
three  feet  long.  The  first  player  started  the  game  by  sticking  his 
stick  as  hard  as  he/she  could  into  the  ground  by  throwing  it. 
Additional  players  tried  to  cause  this  and  other  players'  sticks  to 
fall  by  sticking  their  own  sticks  into  the  ground  and  hitting  another 
stick  at  the  same  time.  A  stick  which  fell  on  its  own  or  was  not 
successfully  stuck  into  the  ground  had  only  to  be  audibly  nicked  by 
another  player.  In  the  event  that  a  player  nicked  a  fallen  stick  or 
knocked  a  standing  stick  down,  he  then  hit  the  fallen  stick  as  far  away 
as  he  could  with  his  own  and  then  attempted  to  stick  his  stick  into  the 
ground  three  times  before  the  other  player  reached  his  stick  and  stuck 
it  into  the  ground  once.  The  player  failing  to  fulfill  his  obligation 
vas  eliminated.  The  last  remaining  player  was  declared  the  winner. 

Playing  with  homemade  toys  was  also  popular.  Makeshift  cars  were 
fashioned  out  of  household  debris  like  sticks  and  shingles,  cans  and 
cartons.  Sometimes  other  children  or  household  pets  were  pressed  into 
service  to  push  these  around  while  children  took  turns  driving,  often 
through  obstacles.  Some  toys  involved  using  available  objects  or 
discarded  materials,  like  pushing  an  old  wheel  with  a  stick,  or  making 
darts  by  sticking  loose  chicken  feathers  into  the  quick  of  a  broken 
corn  cob.   Cerfs-volants  (kites)  were  made  with  thin  strips  of  wood, 
paper  and  strips  of  discarded  rags.  Dolls  were  often  homemade  of  rags 


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stuffed  vith  cotton,  or  corn  shucks.  Corn  silk  vas  popular  as  doll 
hair.  Stilts  and  wooden  horses  were  made  of  discarded  lumber. 

Some  games  served  as  informal  rites  of  passage  and  tests  of 
individual  physical  strength  and  ability,  like  foot  racing,  arm 
wrestling  and  boxing.  In  the  early  part  of  the  twentieth  century, 
boxing  teams  were  organized  by  many  south  Louisiana  towns. 

Demonstrating  skill  on  horse  back  was  important  on  the  prairie  and 
provided  the  basis  for  lots  of  contests.  Formal  horse  racing  is  very 
popular  in  south  Louisiana  and  grew  out  of  informal  horse  races  often 
held  on  country  roads,  on  the  way  home  from  a  visit,  a  dance  or  Sunday 
Mass  simply  to  prove  who  was  the  best  rider  and  had  the  fastest  horse 
in  the  neighborhood.  Horsemanship  was  also  demonstrated  in  horseshows 
made  up  of  rodeo-like  events  (barrel  and  pole  racing,  cutting, 
pleasure,  etc. >  One  horse  show  event,  the  barrel  pickup  was  supposedly 
developed  among  the  Cajuns  in  Louisiana.  This  is  a  timed  event  in  which 
a  rider  starts  at  one  end  of  the  arena,  goes  around  a  barrel  on  the 
other  end,  picking  up  his/her  partner  who  is  standing  on  the  barrel, 
and  both  return  as  fast  as  possible. 

A  related  event,  which  was  developed  recently  out  of  fakelore 
sources,  but  which  has  not  begun  to  enter  popular  tradition,  is  the 
annual  tournoi  in  Ville  Platte.  Horsemen,  dressed  in  costumes  designed 
to  imitate  medieval  garb,  ride  as  fast  as  they  can  in  a  circle  trying 
to  lance  rings  hanging  from  posts  around  the  circle.  The  one  who 
captures  the  most  rings  in  the  least  amount  of  time  is  declared  the 
winner. 


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In  the  bayou  areas,  there  vere  corresponding  races  to  demonstrate 
ability  on  the  vater:  swimming  races  and  boating  races.  Pirogues,  a 
south  Louisiana  version  of  the  canoe,  vere  especially  popular  in  racing 
events  because  of  the  delicate  balance  required  to  stay  afloat  in  then. 
Another  popular  event  involved  tvo  people  standing  on  opposite  ends  of 
a  pirogue,  each  trying  to  cause  the  other  to  fall  into  the  vater 
without  falling  him/herself. 

Pistol  and  rifle  shooting  matches,  called  pateqaux.  provided 
opportunities  to  demonstrate  skill  in  shooting  firearms.  The 
traditional  prize  for  winning  a  pategau  was  a  large  fowl  such  as  a 
goose  or  a  turkey.  Often  the  target  was  a  symbolic  goose  or  turkey.  The 
object  of  the  match  was  to  determine  who  could  put  the  most  bullets 
into  a  hanging  target  also  called  the  pategau,  within  a  limited  amount 
of  rounds  or  time.  Another  contest  involved  cutting  the  string  from 
which  the  pategau  was  hung.  There  were  also  contests  which  tested  knife 
handling  skills.  Target  throwing  onto  a  wall  or  tree,  or  on  the 
ground.   Chew  the  Peg  was  a  game  which  involved  a  complex  sequential 
sticking  ritual.  If  a  player  accomplished  the  sequence  without  failing 
to  stick  his/her  knife,  he/she  drove  a  wooden  peg  into  the  ground  and 
his/her  opponent  had  to  pull  it  out  with  his/her  teeth. 

Whittling  was  also  a  popular  form  of  entertainment  which 
demonstrated  skills  with  knives. 

GAKING 

Gaming  or  gambling  sports  have  traditionally  been  popular  with 
many  adult  Cajuns  and  one  of  the  most  popular  was  card  playing.  Many 
small  villages  and  towns  historically  had  at  least  one  casino  where  men 


127 


and  vomen  gathered  to  play  a  variety  of  card  games.  Some  of  the  most 
popular  vere  bourre,  poker,  euchre,  and  casino.  These  games  usually 
involved  gambling  for  money,  long  considered  legal  as  long  as  the  house 
did  not  officially  take  a  cut.  "Friendly*  games  were  also  played  for 
tokens  like  pecans,  buttons  or  matches.    Couples  sometimes  played 
point  games  like  rook,  hearts,  spades  or  bridge  after  supper  at  social 
gatherings. 

Other  popular  table  sports  include  dominos,  checkers,  pool  and 
billiards.  These  vere  often  located  in  bars  or  taverns  vhere  men 
gathered  and  vere  often  accompanied  by  the  consumption  of  alcohol. 

A  popular  form  of  adult  gaming  vas  horse  racing.  It  seemed  only 
natural  for  people  vho  depended  on  horses  for  everyday  travel  to  vant 
to  prove  vho  had  the  fastest  horse.  Informal  races  often  occured  on 
country  roads  on  the  vay  home  from  Saturday  night  dances  or  Sunday 
masses.  All  it  took  vas  a  boast  about  hov  fast  one's  horse  vas;  if 
someone  vithin  ear-shot  thought  differently,  the  race  vas  on,  sometimes 
in  the  family  buggy,  other  times  on  horseback- -first  one  to  the  big  oak 
tree  or  the  corner  wins.   Even  long  before  the  development  of 
pari-mutuel  tracks  like  Jefferson  Dovns  in  Nev  Orleans  and  Evangeline 
Dovns  in  Lafayette,  bush  tracks  dotted  the  prairies  of  south  Louisiana. 
Betting  there  vas  betveen  interested  parties.  The  tracks  usually 
featured  short,  fast  races  betveen  tvo  quarter  horses  running  on 
straight  dirt  tracks  bordered  by  rails  to  prevent  the  horses  from 
interfering  vith  each  other.  There  vas  little  strategy  involved.  The 
goal  vas  simply  to  get  a  quick  start  and  run  as  fast  as  possible.  In 
the  days  before  mechanical  gates,  races  vere  started  by  dropping  a 


128 


handerkerchief  or  a  rope.  Jockeys  vere  frequently  light  young  boys  who 
learned  early  hov  to  hang  on  to  their  bolting  mounts  by  grabbing  a 
handful  of  mane.  Though  there  vere  tracks  In  many  settlements,  perhaps 
one  of  the  most  popular  of  these  bush  tracks  vas  Chez  petit  Maurice. 
located  near  Bosco  behind  a  well-known  dance  hall  of  the  same  name 
ovned  by  Ellis  Richard.  Automobiles  as  veil  as  horses  raced  on  this 
track. 

Other  adult  games  vhich  involved  animals  vere  cock  fighting  and 
dog  fighting,  vith  roots  in  both  European  and  Afro-Caribbean  culture. 
Cock  fighting  vas  alvays  quasi-legal  at  best.  Dog  fighting  has  long 
been  looked  dovn  upon  by  society  and  the  lav,  but  has  nevertheless  been 
done  clandestinely.  Both  are  gambling  events.  In  both  the  vinner  is 
declared  vhen  one  animal  can  no  longer  respond  to  pit,  the  call  to 
fight,  because  of  lost  interest,  injury  or  death.  The  breeding, 
training  and  pitting  of  roosters  and  dogs  are  recognized  skills  among 
devotees. 

Cock  fighting  is  done  primarily  betveen  male  poultry  or  roosters, 
but  can  be  done  betveen  hens  as  veil.  Defenders  of  the  sport  insist 
they  are  only  providing  a  forum  for  vhat  happens  naturally  in  the 
barnyard.  The  categories  of  cock  fighting  are  named  according  to  the 
presence  or  lack  of  artificial  spurs  attached  to  the  legs  of  the 
poultry:  natural,  spurs,  gaffes,  blades. 

Dog  fighting  is  done  primarily  betveen  males  of  a  breed  called  pit 
bulls,  although  fights  can  be  arranged  betveen  females  of  this  same 
breed.  Pit  bulls  are  bred  for  their  agressiveness  and  fighting  ability. 
Fev  other  species  compete  vith  pit  bulls.  They  usually  only  challenge 


129 


other  dogs,  but  have  been  known  to  attack  humans  and  other  animals. 

Many  Cajuns  love  games  of  chance  so  much  that  they  vill  vager  on 
just  about  anything:  whether  a  branch  vill  fall  on  the  sidevalk  or  in 
the  street,  whether  a  spouse  vill  vear  a  red  or  blue  shirt,  anything. 
One  of  the  most  popular  betting  grounds,  hovever,  is  politics.  Some 
have  been  knovn  to  bet  huge  sums  on  the  outcome  of  a  political  race. 
Yet  some  of  these  same  bettors  vould  think  it  ridiculous  if  asked  to 
contribute  to  a  political  campaign. 


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OTE  VOIR  TA  SACREE  SOUTANE 

Anti-clerical  Humor  in  French  Louisiana 

Barry  Jean  Ancelet 

Though  devoutly  Catholic,  Cajuns  and  Creoles  have  also  been 
traditionally  anti-clerical.  According  to  Carl  Brasseaux,  this 
sentiment  thrived  on  the  frontier  in  Nev  France  vhere  the  coureurs  de 


bois  openly  defied  missionary  efforts  and  even  actively  campaigned  "to 
discredit  the  missionaries  in  the  eyes  of  their  potential  Indian 
converts,  thereby  extinguishing  the  religious  threat  to  their  vay  of 
life"  (Brasseaux,  p.  29).  Among  other  things,  missionaries  were 
hell-bent  on  preventing  the  early  colonials  from  engaging  in  sexual 
relations  vith  Indian  vomen,  a  very  unpopular  stand  since  European 
women  were  rare  on  the  early  colonial  frontier.  Brasseaux  also  notes  "a 
remarkable  lack  of  enthusiasm  among  the  colonists  for  church 
construction, "  a  church  finally  built  in  New  Orleans  fully  nine  years 
after  the  founding  of  the  post,  long  after  the  construction  of 
"numerous  cabarets  and  billiard  halls"  (pp.  34-35).  Few  attended 
services  once  there  were  churches,  prompting  Father  Raphael  to  complain 
in  a  letter  to  Abbe  Raguet,  in  1725,  that  there  was  "no  difference 
between  the  holy  days  of  obligation  and  Sundays  and  work  days,  between 
Lent  and  Carnival,  [between)  the  Easter  season  and  the  rest  of  the 
year"  (quoted  in  Brasseaux,  p.  35). 

In  colonial  Louisiana,  anti-clerical  attitudes  were  alco  inspired 
at  least  in  part  by  the  dubious  reputation  of  the  clergy  on  hand.  As 
Brasseaux  points  out,  "Louisiana's  vicar  general  acknowledged,  in  1725, 


131 


that  many  priests  sent  to  Louisiana  had  been  'interdicted  in  their 
[respective  French]  dioceses  and  fled  to  Louisiana  to  avoid  punishment 
for  their  disorderly  lives,'"  vividly  illustrated  vith  the  case  of  the 
illegitimate  child  "sired  by  Father  St.  Cosine  and  Father  Beaubois's 
attempts  to  seduce  Governor  Etienne  Perier's  pretty  French-born 
domestigue  in  the  confessional"  (p.  34). 

Frontier  attitudes  were  later  reinforced  by  sentiments  imported 
from  18th  century  France  vhere  revolutions  and  reforms  separated  church 
and  state  and  gave  rise  to  irreverent  humor  vhich  survives  in  Louisiana 
French  oral  tradition,  particularly  in  the  treatment  of  the  clergy  as  a 
continuation  of  the  colonial  mentality,  further  underscoring 
traditional  attitudes  concerning  the  church  and  its  contemporary 
missionaries.  Much  in  the  vay  that  the  oil  industry  has  allowed  for  the 
continuation  of  the  frontier  spirit  vith  its  adventure-laden  routine, 
the  continuing  presence  of  missionaries  in  present-day  Louisiana  has 
preserved  the  anti-clerical  attitudes  they  have  long  engendered.  As 
late  as  1970,  the  vast  majority  of  parish  priests  in  south  Louisiana 
were  French,  Belgian,  French-Canadian  or  Irish  missionaries.  The  vicar 
of  the  predominately  Catholic  Diocese  of  Lafayette  complained  in  1978 
that  the  per  capita  rate  of  vocations  in  French  Louisiana  vas  only 
one-fourth  that  of  the  predominately  protestant  Savannah  area. 

In  Louisiana,  stories  about  the  church  and  its  clergy  do  not  take 
on  all  of  religion,  as  they  do  in  France  and  Quebec  vhere  the  demise  of 
the  theocracy  brought  the  whole  system  down  with  it.  The  questionable 
moral  character  of  many  colonial  priests,  along  with  their 
ill-concealed  colonial  mission  of  bringing  "civilization"  to  an 


132 


ostensibly  backward  people,  brought  about  a  demystification  of  the 
frock  and  a  spirit  of  rebellion  among  the  flock.  This  attitude  is 
concisely  expressed  in  an  expression  traditionally  used  to  call  the 
question  during  an  argument,  'Ote-voir  ta  sacre'  soutane  et  1e  vas  te 
montrer  quelle  sorte  d'homme  que  t'g«l»  (Take  off  that  damn  cassock  and 
I'll  show  you  what  kind  of  man  you  arel)  This  principle  is  related  to 
the  infallability  of  the  Pope.  As  long  as  a  priest  speaks  in  church 
about  religious  matters,  things  go  relatively  well.  However,  as  soon  as 
he  begins  to  speak  on  social  matters,  he  is  expected  to  leave  his 
cassock  in  church.  A  parish  priest  who  tried  to  convince  a  local  bar 
owner  to  discontinue  his  bourre  and  poker  games  was  told  flatly, 
•Listen,  father,  you  stick  to  bingo  and  I  won't  say  Mass. ■ 

The  expression,  'Est-ce  que  t'as  jamais  vu  un  pre*tre  maiare?" 
(Have  you  ever  seen  a  skinny  priest?)  further  demonstrates  the 
perception  among  the  Cajuns  that  members  of  the  clergy  are  "bons 
vivants"  who  do  not  always  defer  their  gratification  to  the  next  life. 
A  traditional  response  to  the  greeting,  "Comment  ca  va?'  (How's  it 
going?),  is  "Hleux  cue  ca  et  les  oretres  seraient  laloux'  (Any  better 
and  the  priests  would  be  jealous),  alluding  to  the  perceived  wealth  and 
comfort  of  the  clergy  (see  Brasseaux,  p.  34),  an  ongoing  feeling  which 
has  considerable  historical  precedant  going  back  at  least  to  the 
Jesuits'  immense  land  and  slave  holdings  during  the  colonial  period. 

Stories  from  colonial  Louisiana  like  that  of  the  officers  who 
stormed  the  church  when  relegated  to  the  balcony  by  the  priest  and  that 
of  the  disturbance  caused  by  Attorney  General  and  Mrs.  Fleuriau  and  the 
wife  of  Superior  Council  member  Perry  who  openly  berated  Father  Raphael 


133: 


when  he  chided  them  for  disturbing  his  sermon  with  their  tittering 
illustrate  veil  the  difficulty  colonial  priests  had  in  controlling  and 
influencing  their  parishioners  (Brasseaux,  pp.  35-36).  Similar  stories 
persist  in  contemporary  oral  tradition.  Cajuns  delight  in  relating 
quite  unsolicited  accounts  vhich  reflect  the  survival  of  colonial 
attitudes.  The  oral  history  of  Vermilion  parish  includes  stories  about 
a  pastor  in  19th  century  Abbeville  vho  vas  involved  in  a  high-noon 
style  main-etreet  gunfight. (1)  Descriptions  of  the  first  church  service 
in  Cankton,  on  the  edge  of  the  Marais-bouleur  in  St.  Landry  parish,  an 
area  renouned  for  its  toughness,  shows  that  things  had  changed  little 
by  the  1920s.  According  to  these  accounts,  the  arrival  of  the  church 
vas  unpopular  among  the  area  ruffians  vho  considered  such  forms  of 
socialization  a  threat  to  their  vay  of  life,  paralleling  the  sentiments 
of  the  early  coureur  de  bois.  During  the  dedication  of  the  church, 
several  men  rode  into  the  building  on  horseback,  shooting  out  the 
kerosene  lamps  and  scattering  the  vomen  in  attendance,  all  in  fine 
frontier  style.  They  are  said  to  have  been  severely  dealt  vith  by  an 
even  tougher  parish  priest.  In  the  vild-vestern  tradition  of  pinning 
badges  on  the  best  gunfighters  to  channel  their  energies  on  the  side  of 
the  lav,  the  bishop  had  foreseen  the  difficulty  of  the  situation  and 
sent  Pere  Danduron,  a  Quebecker  vho  vas  as  reputed  for  his  physical 
prowess  as  for  his  religious  conviction. (2) 

Despite  regular  admonishments  from  parish  priests,  bare-knuckle 
duels  continued  to  be  set  just  after  Sunday  mass  well  into  the  1950s. 
Gambling  and  cock-fighting  survived  the  prohibitions  of  colonial  and 
contemporary  authorities  alike  and  thrive  to  this  very  day. (3)  Even  as 


13^ 


late  as  the  mid-1960s,  church  services  continued  to  be  disrupted  by  the 
laughter  of  the  men  who  preferred  to  stand  outside  the  church  door  to 
smoke  and  tell  jokes  instead  of  going  inside  to  hear  mass.   Folktales 
in  current  Louisiana  French  oral  literature  also  reflect  such 
irreverent  disruptions.  One  example  describes  a  nearly  deaf  parishioner 
who  visits  his  parish  priest  to  have  an  announcement  made  concerning  a 
cow  he  has  lost.  He  carefully  explains  to  the  priest  that  she  should  be 
easy  to  recognize  since  she  is  afflicted  with  a  hollow  horn  and  a 
spoiled  teat.  After  his  homily,  the  priest  began  his  announcements  with 
the  bans  of  marriage.  "There  is  the  promise  of  marriage  between  Jean 
Broussard,  son  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Auguste  Broussard,  and  Annette  Cormier, 
daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pierre  Cormier. . . "  Just  then,  the  parishioner 
stood  up  to  remind  the  priest,  "Don't  forget  to  tell  them  that  she  has 
a  hollow  horn  and  one  spoiled  teat! "(4) 

Devout  and  practicing  Catholic  storytellers  often  spice  their 
sessions  with  a  few  jokes  about  the  clergy  and  religious  orders. 
Priests  in  jokes  get  little  more  respect  than  did  Father  Raphael  in 
colonial  New  Orleans.  The  following  story  about  the  priest  who  died 
when  his  head  was  "turned  straight, "  is  as  full  of  indirect  disdain  for 
the  role  of  the  priest  as  it  is  of  naive  humor. 

One  day,  a  country  priest  was  on  his  way  to  say  mass  in  the  next 
town,  and  he  didn't  have  a  car.  He  had  a  long  way  to  go,  so  he  tried  to 
thumb  a  ride,  but  no  one  would  pick  him  up.  Finally,  a  fellow  on  a 
motorcycle  stopped  and  offered  him  a  ride.  The  priest  wasn't  too  sure. 
"I  don't  know,"  he  said.  "It's  kind  of  cold  to  be  riding  on  a 
motorcycle. •  The  fellow  said,  "Well,  just  turn  your  Jacket  around  to 


135 


break  the  vind  and  you'll  be  okay."  The  priest  had  a  long  vay  to  go,  so 
he  decided  to  take  a  chance.  He  turned  his  jacket  around  and  they  took 
off  down  the  road. 

A  few  miles  later,  they  skidded  off  the  road  and  Into  a  ditch.  By 
the  time  the  police  and  ambulances  arrived,  a  considerable  crovd  had 
already  gathered.  The  authorities  vent  dovn  Into  the  ditch  to  check  the 
situation  out.  "What  happened?"  they  asked.  "Well, "  someone  answered, 
"these  tvo  guys  on  this  motorcycle  had  a  bit  of  an  accident.  That 
fellow  over  there  vith  the  helmet,  it  looks  like  he's  going  to  make  it, 
but  that  one  over  there  vith  the  black  coat,  I'm  not  sure.  His  head  vas 
turned  completely  around.  We  turned  it  back,  but  I  think  ve  lost  him 
any vay. "(5) 

In  the  title  expression,  "Ote  voir  ta  sacre'  soutane  et  1e  vas  te 
montrer  quel  sorte  d'homme  que  t'es. "  the  cassock  is  rejected  as  an 
improper  cover  in  man-to-man  dealings.  Here,  taken  at  face  value,  it 
falsely  defines  the  man  and  becomes  the  indirect  cause  of  the  priest's 
undoing. 

Other  stories  directly  confront  the  priest  vith  irreverent 
retorts.  One  tells  of  a  priest  vho  told  his  congregation  that  if  they 
prayed  hard  enough  and  gave  enough  money,  they  vould  one  day  see  the 
Virgin  Mary.  After  several  years,  he  sensed  that  his  congregation  vas 
getting  restless,  so  he  arranged  for  a  young  lady  from  a  distant  tovn 
to  dress  like  the  Virgin  and  descend  on  a  sving  through  a  trapdoor  in 
the  church  ceiling.  That  Sunday,  he  gave  the  signal,  saying,  "Lift  up 
your  eyes  and  see  the  Virgin. •  As  the  maiden  came  through  the  trapdoor, 
a  nail  caught  the  bottom  of  her  dress  and  lifted  her  dress  as  she 


136 


descended,  exposing  her  to  the  entire  congregation.  When  the  priest  sav 
this,  he  said,  "Lower  your  eyes  or  you  will  lose  them. •  An  elderly  nan 
in  the  back  covered  one  eye  and  retorted,  "Hell,  at  my  age,  I  think 
I'll  risk  one. "(6)  Another  tells  of  a  priest  and  a  baptist  minister 
debating  theology  while  walking  in  the  country  when  they  see  a  child 
playing  in  the  middle  of  the  road.  As  they  get  closer,  they  notice  that 
the  child  is  playing  in  a  pile  of  dung.  The  priest  asks  him  what  he  is 
doing.  The  child  responds  that  he  is  making  a  statue  of  a  baptist 
minister.  The  priest  asks  why  not  a  catholic  priest.  The  child  snaps, 
■Because  I  don't  have  enough  dung. "(7)  Another  story  has  the  priest 
admonishing  his  parishioners.  "Don't  you  know  that  Christ  died  for 
you?"  bellows  the  priest.  From  the  back  of  church  comes,  "Hell,  we 
didn't  even  know  he  was  sick. "(8) 

Another  of  the  problems  which  faced  colonial  priests  involved 
their  perceived  lack  of  morals,  fueled  by  such  exploits  as  those  of 
Father  St.  Cosme  and  Father  Beaubois  to  which  I  alluded  earlier. 
Indeed,  many  of  the  stories  about  the  immorality  of  the  clergy  are  set 
in  the  confessional (9)  and  involve  an  unexpected  reaction  from  the 
priest  with  which  he  inadvertently  exposes  his  dubious  morals,  such  as 
the  one  about  the  man  who  came  to  confession  to  say  that  he  had  held 
his  fiancee's  hand.  The  priest  pointed  out  that  this  was  no  sin,  "Is 
that  all  you  did?"  "No,"  the  man  replied,  "I  kissed  her  a  bit."  "That 
also  is  not  a  sin,"  said  the  priest.  "Is  that  all  you  did?"  "No," 
admitted  the  man,  "we  took  all  our  clothes  off  and  lay  together  on  the 
bed."  "Now  you're  getting  close,"  said  the  priest.  "Is  that  all  you 
did?"  "Yes,"  said  the  man,  "that's  all  I  did."  "You're  sure  that's  all 


137 


you  did?"  insisted  the  priest.  "Yes, ■  said  the  man.  "Well,  in  that 
case, "  said  the  priest,  "for  your  penance,  I  vant  you  to  eat  a  bale  of 
hay."  "A  bale  of  hay?  But,  Father,  I'm  not  a  horse,"  protested  the  man. 
"Ko, ■  replied  the  priest,  "but,  if  that's  all  you  did,  then  you're  Just 
as  stupid. "(10)  Another  example  has  the  priest  confessing  a  man  vho 
admits  to  having  had  extra-marital  relations  vith  a  certain  voman.  The 
priest  insists  that  he  must  reveal  her  identity  as  part  of  his 
atonement.  Later,  the  man  discovers  the  priest  in  bed  vith  the  voman. 
He  eventually  goes  back  to  confession  to  admit  to  having  stolen  a  dozen 
eggs.  When  the  priest  asks  vhere  the  eggs  are  nov,  the  man  retorts, 
"Oh,  no,  you  fooled  me  vith  the  voman.  I'll  be  damned  if  you'll  get  the 
eggs. "(11)  In  addition  to  the  obvious  sexual  reference,  the  attitude 
implied  here,  that  rich  priests  bleed  their  already  poor  parishioners, 
vas  prevalent  in  colonial  Louisiana  and  the  perception  persists. 
Built-in  rituals  like  drinking  vine  out  of  golden  chalices  studded  vith 
jewels  in  the  performance  of  their  duties  has  done  little  to  exonerate 
priests  in  the  public  mind  over  the  years. 

Tales  about  the  sexual  activity  of  priests  are  not  restricted  to 
the  confessional  setting.  One  example  concerns  a  priest  visiting  the 
home  of  a  friend  to  care  for  his  vife  vhile  his  friend  is  avay  on  a 
trip.  The  man  hides  the  forks  under  the  sheets  of  the  visitor's  bed. 
When  the  man  returns,  the  priest  exposes  his  seduction  of  the  man's 
vife  vhen  he  reports  that  all  vent  veil  except  for  the  strange  loss  of 
all  the  forks  in  the  house. (12)  Another  example  tells  of  a  young  man 
vho  is  caught  in  dilemma.  The  mother  of  his  girlfriend  vill  not. consent 
to  a  vedding  before  verifying  his  physical  endovnent.  He  claims 


138 


embarassment,  but  also  fears  that  he  vill  not  stand  up  to  the  test.  He 
confides  his  predicament  to  the  local  priest  vho  offers  to  stand  in  for 
the  young  nan.  The  boy  explains  that  he  is  embarassed  to  show  his  face 
during  such  a  trial  and  arrangements  are  made  to  conceal  the  priest's 
identity.  On  the  appointed  day,  the  two  hide  in  the  attic.  The  priest 
exposes  the  part  in  question  through  a  knot  hole  in  the  ceiling  and  the 
boy  speaks  to  mother  and  daughter.  The  mother  vhispers  her  approval, 
but  tells  her  daughter  that  she  would  like  to  share  this  wonderful 
experience  with  her  ovn  mother.  Grandmother  is  ushered  in  and  told  to 
look  up,  to  which  she  exclaims,  "Well,  what  in  the  world  is  Father 
LeBlanc  doing  in  the  attic?" (13) 

Sometimes,  sexual  activity  is  more  subtly  implied,  as  in  the  story 
of  the  two  beggars  who  meet  near  the  end  of  a  road.  One  tells  the  other 
that  it  is  of  no  use  to  continue  to  the  last  house  because  they  are 
Catholic  fanatics.  The  beggar  continues  anyway,  armed  with  a  plan.  When 
the  couple  asks  if  he  is  Catholic,  he  exclaims,  "Purebred 1  My  father 
was  a  priest  and  my  mother  a  nun. "(14)  Huns  are  also  considered  fair 
game  in  oral  tradition.  Another  story,  has  two  French  nuns  arrive  in 
Hew  Orleans  to  visit  America.  Wishing  to  immerse  themselves  in  the 
American  experience  as  soon  as  possible,  they  stop  for  a  hamburger  at 
the  first  opportunity,  explaining  their  motives  to  the  waiter  who 
apologizes  that  he  is  fresh  out  of  hamburgers,  but  can  offer  hot  dogs 
instead,  which  are  just  as  American.  They  don't  know  about  hot  dogs  but 
finally  agree.  When  the  first  nun  receives  her  hot  dog,  she  opens  it 
and  Just  as  quickly  closes  it.  After  a  minute,  the  other  nun  says, 
■You're  not  eating  your  hot  dog.  Is  it  not  good?"  "Ho,"  she  replies, 


139 


■it's  not  that.  I  just  wanted  to  wait  to  see  what  part  of  the  dog  you 
got. "(15)  Of  the  two  interpretations  possible  here,  one  has  to  do  with 
a  play  on  the  ignorance  associated  with  celibacy.  The  other  implies  a 
preoccupation  with  sexual  connotations,  even  more  explicit  in  a  similar 
story  about  the  two  nuns  who  go  the  market  to  buy  themselves  each  a 
banana.  The  vendor  tells  them  that  they  are  ten  cents  apiece  but  that 
they  can  get  three  for  a  quarter.  One  nun  tells  the  other,  "Let's  go 
ahead  and  get  three.  We  can  always  eat  the  other  one. "(16) 

Members  of  the  clergy  fare  no  better  on  the  steps  of  the  Pearly 
Gates.  One  tale,  told  to  me  by  a  Cajun  priest,  has  a  priest  arrive  at 
the  Gates  of  Heaven  only  to  be  told  that  he  must  first  atone  for  his 
cussing  on  earth  by  climbing  a  ladder  and  marking  his  sins  on  the  way 
up  with  a  piece  of  chalk.  He  starts  climbing  and  counting.  After  what 
seemed  an  eternity,  he  heard  someone  above  him  on  the  same  ladder 
asking  him  to  move  over  so  that  he  might  pass  on  his  way  down.  As  they 
crossed,  he  recognize  his  former  monseigneur  who  had  died  earlier.  He 
took  heart  that  he  must  be  nearing  the  top,  but  his  hopes  were  dashed 
when  the  other  priest  explained  that  he  was  simply  descending  for  more 
chalk. (17) 

Folk  tales,  legends  and  oral  history  are  stylized  reflections  of  a 
symbolic  past.  However,  they  often  accurately  reflect  psychological 
truth.  The  way  people  feel  about  their  past  and  the  kinds  of  things 
they  think  are  funny  can  help  color  the  picture  drawn  by  the  facts.  The 
abundance  of  anti-clerical  humor  in  Cajun  culture  would  seem  to  debunk 
the  pastoral  image  of  the  Acadians  as  the  tame  and  devoted  flock  of  the 
local  cure  popularized  by  Longfellow's  "Evangeline. "  The 


140 


independence  expressed  in  the  Cajuns'  anti-clerical  oral  literature  is 
based  on  the  notion  that  priests  and  nuns  are  unnecessary  mediators  in 
the  direct  relationship  they  enjoy  with  their  Diety.  In  their  own 
stories,  the  Cajuns  clearly  believe  in  God,  but  in  their  ovn  terms  and 
not  without  a  keen  sense  of  humor.  They  are  also  motivated  by  an 
indisputable  sense  of  frontier  justice  in  which  priests  and  nuns  are 
tolerated  as  long  as  they  stay  out  of  the  line  of  fire.  God's 
representatives  are  respected  as  long  as  they  are  officially 
representing  God.  When  they  begin  representing  their  own  interests, 
they  must  compete  on  the  same  level  as  everyone  else.  Thus,  while 
religion  itself  is  almost  never  questioned  in  Louisiana  French  oral 
tradition,  members  of  the  religious  community  are  the  butts  of 
countless  jokes,  many  of  which  are  based  on  an  enduring  resistance  to 
colonial  attitudes  as  well  as  on  persistent  popular  perceptions  of  the 
irrepressible  human  element  of  priests  and  nuns. 


M 


FOOTNOTES 

(1)  From  an  interviev  vith  Carl  Brasseaux,  March,  1984. 

(2)  From  numerous  oral  history  accounts  recorded  by  BJA. 

(3)  The  last  bare-knuckle  Sunday  duel  I  remember  seeing  vas  in 
1959,  behind  the  neighborhood  grocery  store.  Colonial  authorities  made 
numerous  unsuccessful  attempts  to  eliminate  gambling  in  eighteenth 
century  Nev  Orleans.  More  recently,  the  Louisiana  State  Legislature 
recently  vent  on  record  (reluctantly)  to  declare  cock-fighting  "not 
illegal. •  Local  bourre  and  poker  games  are  left  unmolested  "as  long  as 
the  house  does  not  officially  take  a  cut. " 

(4)  Told  by  Burke  Guillory,  translated  from  the  French;  field 
recording  by  BJA;  AT  type  1832L  A  Woman  Orders  a  Mass  to  Be  Said  for 
her  Stolen  Ox  (for  all  tale  type  references,  see  Antti  Aarne  and  Stith 
Thompson,  The  Types  of  the  Folk-Tale;  A  Classification  and 
Bibliography.  Folklore  Fellows  Communications,  184  (rev.  Helsinki, 
1961). 

(5)  Told  by  Claude  Landry,  translated  from  the  French;  field 
recording  by  Barry  Jean  Ancelet;  motif  J1942  "Inappropriate  medical 
treatment  due  to  ignorance"  (for  all  motif  references,  see  Stith 
Thompson,  Motif-Index  of  Folk-Literature.  Folklore  Fellows 
Communications,  106-109,  116,  117  (Helsinki,  1932-1936;  rev. 
Bloomington,  1955-1958). 

(6)  Told  by  Rick  Dugas;  field  interviev  by  BJA;  AT  type  1839», 
Making  Thunder. 

(7)  Told  by  Burke  Guillory,  translated  from  the  French;  field 
recording  by  BJA;  cf.  AT  type  1832B*  What  Kind  of  Dung? 

(8)  Told  by  Re von  Reed,  translated  from  the  French;  field 
recording  by  BJA. 

(9)  Cf.  AT  types  1800-1809  Jokes  Concerning  the  Confessional. 

(10)  Told  by  Burke  Guillory,  translated  from  the  French;  field 
recording  by  BJA. 

(11)  Told  by  Bob  Mayer;  field  interviev  by  BJA. 

(12)  Told  by  Adley  Gaudet,  translated  from  the  French;  field 
recording  by  BJA. 

(13)  Told  by  Fred  Tate,  translated  from  the  French;  field 
recording  by  BJA. 


142 


(14)  Told  by  Lazard  Daigle,  translated  from  the  French;  field 
recording  by  BJA;  Thompson  motif  J2461.2,  "Instructions  concerning 
greetings  are  followed  literally. • 

(15)  Told  by  Elizabeth  Landreneau,  translated  from  the  French; 
field  recording  by  BJA;  AT  type  1339  Fool  Doesn't  Know  Sausage. 

(16)  Told  by  Stanislaus  Faul,  translated  from  the  French;  field 
recording  by  BJA. 

(17)  Told  by  Father  Calais;  field  interview  by  BJA;  AT  type  1738C* 
Chalk  Marks  on  Heaven's  Stairs. 


143:. 


THE  CAJUN  WHO  WENT  TO  HARVARD} 

IDENTITY  IN  THE  ORAL  LITERATURE  OF  SOUTH  LOUISIANA 

Barry  Jean  Ancelet 

A  young  Cajun  vent  to  school  at  Harvard.  He  didn't  knov  his 
way  around,  so  he  asked  directions  of  sonebody  on  the  street. 
"Where's  the  library  at?"  he  asked.  "You  must  be  nev  at  this 
institution, ■  the  other  fellov  said  vith  a  very  proper  Ivy 
League  accent.  "One  never  ends  a  question  vith  a 
preposition. "   "Excuse  me,  ■  the  Cajun  said.  "Where's  the 
library  at,  asshole?"  (Rick  Dugas  1982)* 

Recently,  this  joke  began  making  the  rounds  in  South  Louisiana.  It 
is  not  a  nev  joke,  nor  is  it  specifically  about  the  Cajuns.  It  has  been 
used  in  reference  to  Aggies,  Okies,  hillbillys,  and  Southerners 
attending  the  sane  institution  in  question  vith  identical  results.  But 
its  appearance  in  the  Cajun  repertoire  raises  some  interesting 
questions  about  the  Cajuns  and  hov  their  culture  is  doing  these  days. 

Jokes  are  funny.  They  are  also  very  serious.  You  can  tell  a  lot 
about  people  by  vhat  they  think  is  funny.  We  are  usually  most  ticklish 
in  our  most  sensitive  spots.  Touch  lightly  and  it  makes  us  chuckle. 
Touch  too  hard  and  it  makes  us  uncomfortable.  Sometimes  there  is  a  very 
fine  line  betveen  laughing  and  crying,  and  humor  functions  only  vhen  it 
has  one  foot  in  reality.  Jokes  are  rarely  nev.  There  is  an 
international  repertoire  of  funny  stories  vhich  has  been  around  for 
centuries  and  reflects  the  range  of  human  experience.  Old  jokes  are 
adapted  to  reflect  the  most  current  events  almost  immediately. 
(Remember,  for  example,  the  sudden  rash  of  recycled  "Polack"  and 
Catholic  jokes  vhen  John  Paul  II  vas  elected  pontiff,  or  consider  the 
surge  of  adapted  homosexual  jokes  vith  the  nevs  of  Rock  Hudson's 
illness. ) 


145 


Since  the  1960s,  Louisiana  French  culture  and  its  image  have 

undergone  profound  changes.  Today  Cajunism  is  generally  considered  to 

be  fashionable  and  this  social  rehabilitation  is  reflected  in  much  of 

the  contemporary  oral  repertoire,  sometimes  aggressively,  as  in  the 

story  quoted  above.  Yet,  this  vaa  not  always  the  case.  In  the  19th 

century,  Cajun  culture  vas  a  blend  of  ethnic  traditions  thriving  in  a 

self-sufficient  community.  The  bulk  of  traditional  stories  has  alvays 

reflected  the  viev  from  the  inside.  Within  the  borders  of  their  ovn 

context,  Cajuns  have  never  been  afraid  to  laugh  at  their  ovn  foibles. 

Stories  abound  about  the  smallish  but  clever  Cajun  vho  visely  avoids 

direct  confrontations  when  the  odds  are  obviously  stacked  against  him, 

in  the  tradition  of  the  French  rascal  Renard  and  of  Lapin,  his 

Afro-Caribbean  counterpart. 

Two  brothers  vent  to  the  dancehall.  The  one  vho  liked  to 
drink  vent  to  the  bar  and  the  other  vho  liked  to  dance  vent 
to  the  floor.  A  vhile  later,  someone  came  to  the  one  at  the 
bar  and  told  him  that  he  should  come  and  see  about  his 
brother,  that  someone  had  flattened  him  in  a  fight.  Full  of 
liquid  courage,  he  stormed  off  to  the  dance  floor  and  sav  his 
brother  laying  there  unconscious  and  covered  vith  bruises.  He 
vaved  his  arms  to  stop  the  musicians  and  stood  on  a  table  to 
announce,  "If  the  man  vho  did  this  has  enough  nerve  to  shov 
his  face,  I  have  something  to  tell  him. "  A  huge  man  came  out 
of  the  crovd  and  said,  "I  did  this.  What  do  you  have  to  say?" 
He  replied,  "Boy,  you  must  have  a  hell  of  an  uppercut. "  (Elmo 
Ancelet  1979;  told  in  French;  my  translation) 

Jokes  sometimes  unconsciously  reflect  presumptions  about  the  vay 

things  are.  Exiled  from  Acadia  (nov  Nova  Scotia)  by  the  English  in 

1755,  the  Cajuns  made  their  vay  to  Louisiana  vhere  they  insulated 

themselves  by  living  in  isolation.  Even  today,  visitors  can  still  find 

it  difficult  to  penetrate  their  vorld. 

A  stranger  stopped  at  an  old  house  for  directions.  "Where's 
Joe  Babineaux's  house?"  he  asked.  An  old  fellov  told  him, 


146 


"Well,  you  go  dovn  to  Harlus  Thibodeaux's  land  and  take  a 
left.  Then  go  on  until  where  that  old  oak  tree  got  blown  dovn 
in  the  storm  of  '42  and  take  a  right.  And  it's  going  to  be  on 
your  left  across  the  road  from  where  Rhule  Cormier  was  killed 
in  that  fight. ■  "Wait  a  minute, ■  the  stranger  complained,  "if 
I  knew  where  all  those  places  were,  I  wouldn't  need 
directions. ■  "If  you  need  directions,  maybe  you  don't  have 
any  business  there, "  the  old  fellow  shot  back.  (Stanislaus 
Faul  1982;  told  in  French;  my  translation) 

A  careful  look  at  even  the  most  ordinary  jokes  will  usually  expose 

new  layers  of  meaning  under  the  surface.  Consider,  for  example,  the 

following  story. 

There  once  was  an  old  maid  who  wanted  to  get  married.  And  she 
was  having  no  luck.  So,  she  went  to  ask  the  advice  of  her 
grandmother.  Her  grandmother  told  her,  "If  you  were  to  pray 
every  night  at  the  foot  of  an  oak  tree,  maybe  your  prayers 
would  be  answered. "   So,  the  old  maid  went  out  to  pray. . . and 
pray.  There  was  no  response  to  her  prayer.  So,  one  night,  she 
said,  "I'm  going  to  pray  with  more  fervor  1"  She  got  on  her 
knees,  put  her  head  against  the  oak.  "Ky  God,  "  she  cried, 
•please  do  me  the  favor  of  letting  me  marry. "  There  was  an  old 
owl  who  called  out,  "Hoo,  hoo. "   "Ah, "  she  said,  "great  Godl 
Just  as  long  as  it's  a  man.  Send  him  along  to  me  right  awayl" 
(Clotile  Richard  1975;  told  in  French;  my  translation) 

This  joke  was  told  to  me  by  a  safely  married  elderly  lady  with  a 

gleam  in  her  eyes.  I  found  it  funny,  but  a  little  awkward  since  it  was 

told  in  French  but  played  on  the  confusion  between  the  owl's  hoot  and 

the  English  "Who?"  I  didn't  pay  much  more  attention  to  it  until  later, 

when  it  occurred  to  me  that  this  joke  was  an  interesting,  unconscious 

reflection  of  the  South  Louisiana  cultural  scene.  Mrs.  Richard  had 

likely  heard  the  joke  first  in  English,  but  chose  to  tell  it  to  me  in 

her  native  French.  The  owl  could  have  easily  been  replaced  by  a  smaller 

bird  like  the  kildeer  whose  cry  of  "Kee  kee"  could  have  been  mistaken 

for  the  French  Qui?  The  Mrs.  Richard,  however,  was  not  at  all  surprised 

that  God  should  speak  English.  In  her  real  world,  people  in  authority 

usually  did.  She  knew,  however,  that  He  also  spoke  French.  The  old  maid 


147 


in  her  story  acted  as  Mrs.  Richard  did  vith  her  ovn  grandchildren, 
addressing  Him  in  French  and  responding  in  French  though  He  answered  in 
English. 

Looking  for  variants  of  this  last  tale,  I  found  quite  similar 
stories  in  Quebec  and  Nev  Brunswick,  vith  interesting  reflections  of 
their  ovn  cultural  scenes.  In  Quebec,  the  old  maid  is  counseled  to  pray 
at  the  foot  of  St.  Joseph's  statue.  When  she  does,  a  young  prankster 
hidden  behind  the  statue  overhears  her  and  answers,  *Tu  1' auras  pas, 
ton  mari. *  ("You  von't  get  a  husband.")  The  old  maid  is  so  surprised  to 
hear  the  statue  "talk"  that  she  jumps  on  it,  throving  her  arms  around 
its  neck.  This  causes  the  statue  to  fall  on  her  to  vhich  she  exclaims, 
"Debarque  done.  St.  Joseph.  T'es  pire  qu'un  jeunel"  ("Get  off,  St. 
Joseph.  You're  vorse  than  the  boysl")  Her  reaction,  vhich  might  sound 
somewhat  blasphemous,  is  perfectly  in  keeping  vith  the  prevailing 
anti-clericalism  of  the  Quebecois,  vhose  rebelliousness  against  the 
theocracy  of  their  past  makes  the  mere  mention  of  religious  trappings 
(tabernacle,  hostie,  baptlme  calice)  good  cussing. 

In  Kev  Brunswick,  vhere  many  Acadians  remained  in  hiding  after 
their  1755  exile  from  Nova  Scotia,  and  vhere  the  French  community 
(about  40%  of  the  population)  continues  to  be  dominated  by  the  English 
(about  60X),  the  old  maid  is  told  to  pray  outside  to  the  Virgin  Mary 
(Our  Lady  of  the  Assumption  is  the  patroness  of  the  Acadians).  Unlike 
her  Louisiana  counterpart,  the  spinster  fro«  New  Brunswick  is 
embaraesed  and  goes  into  the  chicken  coop.  Just  as  she  is  lifting  her 
head  in  prayer,  chicken  droppings  fall  into  her  mouth,  to  which  she 


148 


responds,  "Bonne  Ste.  Vierqel  J'al  r'cu  de  tes  graces,  b'en  c'est 
amerl *  (Holy  Virgin,  I  have  received  your  graces,  but  how  terribly 
bitterl")  Her  stoic  acceptance  of  bitter  humiliation  from  above 
reflects  the  Acadians'  long  history  of  oppression. 

Jokes  in  the  Canadian  Haritimes  English  community  often  reflect 
the  situation  described  in  the  old  maid  joke  quoted  above  from  the 
other  side  of  the  fence.  On  a  plane  from  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  to 
Honcton,  Hev  Brunswick,  an  English  Canadian,  obviously  unaware  of  my 
cultural  origins,  made  me  shudder  with  a  doubly  racist  riddle:  Why  does 
America  have  niggers  and  Canada  have  frogs  (French  Canadians)?  Because 
America  had  first  choice. 

Jokes  within  a  culture  are  one  thing.  So-called  ethnic  jokes, 

which  pit  one  culture  against  another,  are  quite  another.  Within  Cajun 

culture,  foolishness  typically  provides  ample  grounds  for  jokes. 

Boudreaux  took  Touchet  fishing  one  day  in  his  new  boat.  They 
had  been  out  only  a  few  minutes  when  the  motor  fell  into  the 
water.  Boudreaux  jumped  in  after  it,  and  Touchet  leaned  over 
to  see  his  partner  trying  to  start  the  motor  under  water.  He 
watched  him  for  a  while,  shaking  his  head,  and  finally 
blurted  out,  "Pull  your  choke,  stupid I"  (Elmo  Ancelet  1979; 
told  in  French;  my  translation) 

In  the  intercultural  context,  foolishness  often  becomes  the 

uncomfortable  fuel  for  bitter  ethnic  "us  versus  them"  confrontations: 

"The  only  thing  more  dangerous  than  a  nigger  with  a  knife  is 
a  Cajun  with  a  pencil."  (Overheard  in  a  bar,  ca.  1976) 

•  The  discovery  of  oil  on  the  Louisiana  prairies  in  1900,  the 

mandatory  English  education  act  of  1916,  the  World  War  I  draft,  mass 

media  and  modern  transportation  combined  to  Americanize  the  Cajuns  at 

breakneck  speed  during  the  1930s  and  1940s.  Scholarly  records  of 


1J+9 


stories  during  this  time  include  Alcee  Fortier'e  collection  of  Creole 

animal  tales  and  Corinne  Saucier 's  collection  of  Avoyelles  Parish  fairy 

tales,  neither  of  vhich  were  recorded  among  the  Cajuns.  The  oldest 

extant  recordings  of  Cajun  humor  are  Walter  Coquille's  stories  about 

the  "Mayor  of  Bayou  Pom  Pom, "  (pronounced  "mare"  as  in  "Hov  you  call 

that  female  horse?")  vhich  already  reflected  social  changes:  they  vere 

told  in  Cajun  English  dialect  as  veil  as  French  and  poked  fun  at  the 

Cajuns  confronted  for  the  first  time  vith  modern  vays.  Eventually, 

hovever,  a  social  stigma  came  to  be  attached  to  humor  at  the  expense  of 

the  Cajuns.  Even  the  upvardly  mobile  vere  brought  tumbling  dovn  vith 

such  remarks  as  "A  Cajun  is  just  like  a  monkey;  the  higher  up  he 

climbs,  the  more  of  his  ass  you  see,  "  reflecting  the  Cajuns'  precarious 

position  on  the  nev  social  ladder. 

A  basic  assumption  of  ethnic  jokes  about  the  Cajuns  vas  that  they 

vere  impossible  to  educate.  Host  Cajuns  had  never  been  to  school  until 

the  1916  mandatory  education  act  began  to  bring  them  into  the 

classroom.  Then,  their  inability  to  speak  English  made  them  appear  dull 

and  recalcitrant.  The  folloving  joke  describes  a  typical  first  day  of 

school  for  most  young  Cajuns  vho  found  themselves  forbidden  to  speak 

their  native  language  on  the  schoolgrounds. 

My  father  sent  me  to  school  in  the  first  grade  and  I  came 
home  after  only  tventy  minutes.  When  my  father  asked  me  vhy  I 
vasn't  in  school,  I  told  him,  "I  came  home  because  that's  all 
there  vas.  The  teacher  said  everybody  had  to  talk  only 
English.  There  vere  a  fev  vho  understood,  but  most  of  us 
didn't  knov  vhat  she  vas  saying.  Then  she  said  something 
about  numbers  and  said,  'Say  one. '  A  fev  people  around  the 
classroom  said,  'One. '  Then  she  said,  'Say  tvo. '  So  ve  all 
got  up  and  left."  (Larrell  Richard  1977;  told  in  French,  my 
translation) 


150 


The  punch  line,  based  on  the  confusion  between  the  bilingual  homonyms 
■Say  two"  and  "C'est  tout"  ("That's  all"),  plays  on  the  assumed 
eagerness  of  the  Cajuns  to  be  rid  of  schooling  as  soon  as  possible  and 
reflects  the  functional  bilingualism  vhich  eventually  resulted  from  the 
educational  system.  The  next  story  further  shovs  the  assumed 
incompatibility  of  schools  and  Cajun  culture. 


Tvo  cousins  started  school  together.  The  teacher  vas  asking 
everybody  their  names.  When  she  got  to  the  first  cousin,  he 
said,  "Poo  Poo. "  She  said  she  vas  not  going  to  put  up  vith 
such  behavior  and  asked  him  again.  "Poo  Poo, "  he  said  again. 
So  she  sent  him  out  of  the  classroom.  As  he  valked  past  his 
cousin,  he  said,  "Come  on,  Ca  Ca,  she  von't  believe  you 
either."  (Larrell  Richard  1977) 

This  joke  plays  on  the  teacher's  ignorance  of  the  Cajun  nicknaming 

traditions,  but  beyond  that,  represents  the  school  context  as  a  cultural 

playground  for  the  cousins  vho  clearly  have  no  real  interest  in 

learning. 

Even  vhen  jokes  have  Cajuns  staying  in  school,  their  resistance  to 

education  persists.  Hot  a  native  French-speaking  Cajun  himself,  Justin 

Wilson  specializes  in  ethnic  jokes  vhich  exploit  the  misunderstandings 

that  arise  from  the  Cajuns'  difficulty  vith  English. 

You  knov,  lady  an'  gentlemans,  I  got  a  frien'  an'  he  got  a 
li'l  boy  chirren  an'  one  day  las'  year  he  brought  hisse'f 
home  from  school  an'  he  say,  "Pa-pa,  I  got  a  problem." 
Pa-pa  say,  "Well,  ve  all  got  problem,  son. "  "But  you  jus' 
don't  unnerstan',  pa-pa.  I  got  12  problem."  Pa-pa  say,  "Wat 
you  meant  by  dat?"  He  say,  "Rit-ma  tick.  I  got  12  problem 
r'at  chere.  De  teacher  done  tole  me  dat  she  vant  to  fine  the 
common  denominator  for  averyone  dem  tvelve  problem. "  His 
pa-pa  say,  "Whoot  You  all  still  lookin'  fo'  dat  damm  t'ing? 
We  vas  lookin'  fo'  dat  v'en  I  vas  a  boy."  (Wilson  and  Hovard 
Jacobs,  Justin  Wilson's  Cajun  Humor.  Gretna  1974) 

The  story  line  vhich  stresses  the  persistent  problem  in  educating 

Cajuns  is  underscored  by  the  storyteller's  imitation  of  the  language. 


151 


Though  these  stories  are  often  recycled  ethnic  jokes  told  at  the 
expense  of  the  Cajuns,  many  in  South  Louisiana  find  them  funny  and 
retell  them.  In  another  story  (Wilson  &  Jacobs  1974),  Wilson  tells  of  a 
"real  astute  broker"  vho  is  shoving  a  house  in  Hev  Orleans  to  a 
nevly-rich  Cajun  voman. 

...an'  v'en  dey  move  out  de  bedroom  he  say,  "Nov  dis  is  de 
playroom  an'  den."  She  cass  bot'  eye  on  him  r'at  nov  an'  she 
make  spoke  to  dat  real  astute  agent,  "An'  den  WHUT?" 

In  Wilson's  stories,  the  Cajuns'  language  troubles  are  not  limited 

to  English.  Even  vhen  confronted  vith  "good  Franch, "  Wilson's  Cajuns 

find  themselves  baffled. 

Dis  young  lady  from  Nev  Or-lee-anh  study  dat  good  Franch  at 
dem  Too-lane  University,  an'  one  mornin'  she  vas  squat  in  a 
dock  blin'  in  Sout'ves'  Levisana  an'  she  say  to  her  Cajun 
guide  like  dis:  "Quelle  heure  est-il?"   De  guide  scratch  his 
head  an'  he  say,  "Lady,  dem  vasn't  teal,  dem  vas  mallard." 
(Wilson  &  Jacobs  1974) 

In  a  similar  story  (Wilson  &  Jacobs  1974),  a  young  man  dining  at 

Antoine's  tells  the  "vaitin'  faller,  "  'Donnez-moi  1 'addition,  s'il  vous 

plait. •  only  to  be  given  discreet  directions  to  the  reetroora.  These 

stories  reflect  the  attitude  common  among  the  Cajuns  that  their 

language  is  nothing  more  than  a  patois,  unintelligible  to  speakers  of 

"good"  French.  They  invariably  explain,  usually  in  English,  to  visitors 

from  other  French-speaking  countries,  "We  don't  speak  real  French,  just 

broken-dovn  Cajun  French. " 

Signs  and  books  in  standard  English  presented  additional  problems 

to  the  Cajun  stereotype  vho  is  barely  literate,  at  best.  For  example, 

Did  you  hear  about  the  Cajun  vho  vas  on  his  vay  to  Houston? 
He  sav  a  sign  in  Lake  Charles,  "Do  not  pass  on  bridge, "  so  he 
turned  around  and  vent  home.  (Rick  Dugas  1980) 


152 


Or, 

A  Cajun  vas  on  his  vay  to  Baton  Rouge  to  visit  his  daughter 
vho  vas  avay  at  college.  He  sav  a  sign,  "LSU  left, "  so  he 
turned  around  and  vent  hone.  (Rick  Dugas  1980) 

Given  his  history  of  illiteracy,  a  Cajun's  visit  to  the  library  vas 

considered  an  unlikely  event  vith  humorous  possibilities,  as  in  the 

story  about  Melancon  vho  comes  to  the  library  asking  for  Das  Kapital 

(Wilson  &  Jacobs  1974)  The  "liberry  lady"  is  naturally  surprised  at  his 

interest  in  such  a  "complicate  book. "  He  insists,  "Dey  said  it  vas  all 

about  my  vife's  relatives  name  Bourgeois. " 

Even  their  nov-celebrated  cuisine  once  gave  Cajuns  trouble: 

A  Cajun  boy  vent  to  school  at  LSU  and  he  vas  very  concerned 
about  hiding  his  origins.  He  paid  attention  to  the  vay  he 
dressed  and  the  vay  he  spoke  and  everything.  One  day  he 
decides  to  go  out  to  eat  at  McDonald's.  He  checks  to  make 
sure  he  has  left  his  boots  at  home,  then  he  goes  in  and  says 
carefully,  "I  vould  like  a  hamburger,  please."  The  vaiter 
says,  "You  vant  that  all  the  vay?"  "Hell,  nol  Hold  the  rice," 
he  says.  "What  you  think  I  am,  a  Cajun?"  (Alex  Giroir  1984) 

Or, 

A  crawfish  vent  valking  vith  her  children  one  day.  They  sav  a 
bull  and  the  little  cravfish  asked,  "What's  that?"   "No  need 
to  be  afraid, "  said  the  mother  cravfish.  "That's  a  bull.  It 
eats  grass  and  hay  and  things  like  that. "   They  valked  on  and 
sav  a  pig.  "What's  that?"  asked  the  little  cravfish. 
"That's  a  pig.  It  eats  corn  and  bran  and  things  like  that.  " 
Then  they  sav  a  man  dressed  in  a  suit.  "What's  that?"  they 
asked  again.   "That's  an  American.  He  eats  bulls  and  pigs  and 
things  like  that. "   Then  they  sav  a  man  dressed  in  overalls 
and  hip  boots.  "What's  that?"  they  asked.   "Run  like  hell, 
children.  That's  a  Cajun  and  he'll  eat  any  damn  thing  1" 
(Larrell  Richard  1979) 

The  Cajuns'  inability  to  conform  to  modern  conventions  is  often 

presented  through  a  confrontation  vith  their  Anglo-American  neighbors, 

especially  Texans  vho  have  long  had  a  reputation  in  American  jokelore 

for  their  fierce  pride  and  boasts  about  the  size  and  excellence  of 


153 


everything  Texan.  The  influence  of  Texas  vas  overwhelming  during  the 
1930s  and  1940s  vhen  Cajuns  were  becoming  Americanized.  Even  Cajun 
musicians  abandoned  traditional  styles  to  imitate  Bob  Wills'  western 
sving.  Ethnic  jokes  about  Cajuns  and  Texans  almost  invariably  ridiculed 
the  Cajuns,  reflecting  their  poor  self  image: 


All  the  Cajuns  working  for  NASA  in  Houston  had  to  be  fired 
because  every  time  a  launch  vas  announced,  they  knocked  off 
to  eat.  (Wilson  &  Jacobs  1974) 

Or, 

A  cannibal  vent  to  the  people  market.  He  asked  the  man  behind 
the  counter  vhat  he  had  fresh.  He  said  he  just  had  a  Texan 
and  a  Cajun  left.  So  the  man  asked  hov  much  they  cost.  He 
said,  "The  Texan  vill  cost  you  five  dollars  a  pound.  The 
Cajun  vill  cost  you  forty  dollars  a  pound. •   "Why  so  much  for 
the  Cajun?"  asked  the  cannibal.   "Hell,  did  you  ever  try  to 
clean  one  of  them?"  (Don  Hontoucet  1978) 

Sexuality  is  a  sensitive  subject  in  most  cultures  and  sexual  ineptitude  is 

among  the  vorst  possible  insults  for  any  culture.  Consider  the  following 

riddle: 


Q:  Do  you  knov  vhat  Cajun  foreplay  is? 
A:  Chere,  you  sleeping? 

The  anti-Cajun  bias  in  jokes  is  less  evident  in  recent  years.  Preluded 
by  a  renaissance  of  traditional  music  in  the  late  forties,  the  culture 
began  to  recover  during  the  surge  of  regionalism  vhich  folloved  World  War 
II.  Changes  on  the  political,  educational  and  popular  scenes  led  by  the 
Council  for  the  Development  of  French  in  Louisiana  (C0D0FIL)  have  brought 
about  a  rehabilitation  of  the  Cajun  self-image,  complete  vith  French 


15*» 


language  education  in  the  schools  and  French  programming  in  the  media.  This 

transformation  is  reflected  in  current  oral  literature  in  both  French  and 

English  (though  a  recent  study  by  my  colleague  David  Barry  seems  to  shov 

that  stories  in  English  tend  to  put  the  Cajuns  dovn,  while  those  in  French 

tend  not  to). 

Texas  and  Texans  continue  to  figure  prominently  in  the  ongoing  border 

battles  in  Cajun  jokelore,  but  nov  the  Cajuns  have  begun  to  return  fire. 

Some  stories  take  on  the  bigger  and  better  Texas  bull  by  its  ovn  longhorns. 

A  Cajun  taxicab  driver  in  Baton  Rouge  picked  up  a  Texan  on  his 
vay  to  the  airport.  When  they  passed  by  the  LSI!  football 
stadium,  the  Texan  said,  "What's  that?"  The  Cajun  said, 
"That's  Tiger  Stadium.  "The  Texan  said,  "Hov  long  did  it  take 
y'all  to  build  it?"  The  Cajun  said,  "Oh,  about  five  years." 
The  Texan  said,  "Oh,  ve've  got  a  bigger  one  in  Austin  that 
only  took  one  year. "  As  they  passed  the  state  capitol,  the 
Texan  asked  again,  "What's  that  building?"  The  Cajun  said, 
"That's  the  state  capitol."  "And  hov  long  did  it  take  y'all  to 
build  that?"  The  Cajun  said,  "About  three  years."  The  Texan 
said,  "We've  got  one  in  Austin  that  only  took  six  months. "  The 
Cajun  had  just  about  enough  of  this,  you  know?  Then  they  drove 
past  the  Mississippi  River  Bridge.  The  Texan  said,  "Hov  long 
did  it  take  y'all  to  build  that  bridge?"  The  Cajun  said,  "I 
don't  knov.  It  wasn't  there  this  morning. "  (Alex  Giroir,  1984) 


Or, 


A  Cajun  decided  to  move  to  Texas.  He  was  talking  vith  his 
neighbor,  trying  to  convince  him  to  go  vith  him.  "You  ought  to 
come  on  to  Texas  vith  me, "  he  said.  "They  say  that  everything 
is  better  over  there."  "Ho,"  his  neighbor  said,  "I'm  happy 
here.  I  wouldn't  like  it  over  there. "  So  the  fellow  moved,  but 
his  neighbor  stayed.  About  a  year  later,  the  fellow  comes  back 
to  visit  his  old  neighbor.  "I  can't  believe  you're  still  here, 
trying  to  scratch  a  living  out  of  that  tired  old  dirt.  Han, 
you  ought  to  come  to  Texas.  There  are  marvelous  things  there. " 
His  friend  said,  "Like  what?"  He  said,  "I  grew  a  head  of 
cabbage  that  was  so  big  that,  during  a  downpour,  my  new 
neighbor's  whole  herd  of  some  fifty  sheep  was  able  to  get 
under  the  leaves  and  not  one  of  them  got  wet. "  "Boy, "  the  old 
neighbor  said,  "that  must've  been  some  head  of  cabbage."  The 
fellow  said,  "Sure,  and  here  you  are  still  stuck  in  the  same 
old  rut.  Hothing  new  ever  happens  here. "  "Oh, "  his  friend 
said,  "we  had  something  new  the  other  day.  The  fellow  who 
lives  on  your  old  place  was  having  a  pot  built,  and  that  pot 


155 


vas  so  big,  the  men  hammering  the  handles  in  place  on  one  end 
couldn't  hear  those  on  the  other  end. "  His  friend  said,  "What 
in  the  world  did  they  want  to  do  with  a  pot  that  big?"  The 
fellow  shot  back,  "Cook  your  cabbage  head. "  (Stanislaus  Faul 
1983;  told  in  French,  my  translation) 

Even  hell  is  no  match  for  the  renewed  Cajun  spirit: 

A  busload  of  Cajuns  went  over  a  cliff  and  all  were  killed 
instantly.  When  they  got  to  heaven's  gate,  St.  Peter  was 
informed  by  God  that  there  had  been  a  mistake.  They  weren't 
supposed  to  come  until  next  week.  There  was  no  room  yet  in 
heaven.  So  St.  Peter  sent  them  down  to  hell  just  temporarily 


until  their  places  in  heaven  could  be  prepared.  A  few  days 
later,  Satan  came  to  the  pearly  gates  to  talk  to  St.  Peter. 
"Listen,"  he  said,  "don't  you  think  you  could  take  those 
Cajuns  off  my  hands."  St.  Peter  said,  "What's  the  matter? 
They  giving  you  trouble?"  "Well,"  Satan  said,  "first  they  had 
a  fais  dodo.  Then  they  had  a  banco.  Now  they're  having  a 
bingo.  They're  trying  to  raise  money  to  air-condition  the 
damn  place."  (Fred  Tate  1976;  told  in  French,  my  translation) 

Indeed,  the  Cajuns  are  brash,  bold,  even  belligerent,  in  their 

renewed  sense  of  identity.  According  to  a  currently  popular  expression, 

"You  can  tell  a  Cajun  a  mile  off,  but  you  can't  tell  him  a  damn  thing 

up  close. "  Many  who  endured  the  second-class  citizenship  offered  them 

during  Americanization  have  apparently  decided  that  they  want  none  of 

it.  The  ethnic  revival  has  even  taken  a  few  turns  that  the 

establishment  did  not  anticipate.  The  ethnic  slur  "coonass"  has  been 

confiscated  and  now  appears  on  bumper  stickers  and  t-shirts  reading, 

"Coonasses  make  better  lovers  'cause  they  eat  anything, "  and  "You  ain't 

done  nothing  till  you've  done  it  vith  a  coonass."  A  coonass  seven 

course  meal  is  described  as  "a  pound  of  boudin  and  a  six  pack  of  beer. " 

The  expression,  "the  only  difference  between  a  coonass  and  a  horse's 

ass  is  the  Sabine  River, ■  explicitly,  though  left-handedly  defuses  the 

ethnic  slur  which  came  over  from  Texas  during  the  post  war  oil  boom. 


156 


Yet,  vhile  Ron  Guidry  and  Paul  Prudhomme  have  claimed  to  be  proud 

coonasses  on  national  television,  many  continue  to  feel  offended  by  the 

term,  wondering  aloud,  *Hov  can  you  get  the  "ass"  out  of  "coonass"?" 

The  nev  cultural  pride's  boisterous  expressions  are  not  reserved 

for  traditional  jousting  partners.  The  lead  story  about  the  Cajun  vho 

vent  to  Harvard  focuses  on  Nev  England,  a  bastion  of  Americana.  Some  of 

these  stories  offer  a  nev  image  of  the  Cajun  swaggering  through  the 

vide  vorld,  vhile  reflecting  his  background  in  Louisiana  politics  vhere 

there  is  an  important  difference  betveen  vhat  is  legal  and  vhat  is 

possible: 

A  Cajun  vent  to  Chicago  to  visit  his  daughter.  He  vas 
following  the  directions  that  she  had  sent  by  mail,  but 
missed  a  turn  in  heavy  traffic.  So  he  pulled  over  to  one  side 
of  the  road  and  prepared  to  make  a  U-turn.  A  traffic  cop  came 
running  over  to  protest,  "Hey,  man,  you  can't  do  thatl"  The 
Cajun  surveyed  the  street  and  said,  "Yeah,  I  believe  I've  got 
enough  room. ■  (Don  Hontoucet  1978;  told  in  French,  my 
translation) 

Their  ignorance  of  the  vorld,  vhich  formerly  made  Cajuns  the  butt  of 

jokes,  they  nov  use  to  disarm  outsiders.  In  real  life,  they  have  been 

knovn  to  avoid  traffic  tickets  outside  South  Louisiana  by  pretending  to 

speak  no  English. 

Current  jokes  even  take  on  defectors  as  the  following  story 

directed  at  children  vho  grev  up  speaking  French  but  abandoned  the 

language  once  avay  at  school.  This  last  joke  reflects  the  Cajuns' 

desire  to  preserve  their  linguistic  and  cultural  integrity  nov  that 

giving  up  the  language,  once  considered  a  prerequisite  for  social 

promotion,  is  seen  as  an  affectation  vhich  can  only  lead  to  cultural 

suicide. 


15? 


A  young  Cajun  went  off  to  school  and  when  he  returned  home 
after  one  semester,  he  told  his  mother  and  father  that  he  no 
longer  spoke  French.  His  parents  vere  a  little  surprised  at 
this  sudden  loss  of  his  native  language,  but  they  had  heard 
that  such  things  happened  at  college.  To  make  sure  that  his 
parents  understood  and  believed  him,  the  young  man  asked  over 
and  over  again  vhat  things  vere  In  French. 

■What's  that?"  he  vould  ask. 

"Line  chaise,  "  his  parents  vould  answer. 

■And  what's  that?" 

"Une  table.  ■ 

■And  that?" 

■Une  porte.  " 
His  parents  quickly  tired  of  this  game,  but  the  young  man 
continued  to  demonstrate  his  newfound  Inability  to  speak 
French.  They  all  survived  the  first  evening  somehow  and 
finally  went  to  bed.   His  parents  were  up  early  and  were 
already  at  work  in  the  garden  by  the  time  the  young  man 
awoke.  His  father  commented  under  his  breath  about  this 
additional  bad  habit  that  had  been  learned  at  school.  The 
young  man  quickly  resumed  his  efforts  to  show  his  ingnorance 
of  French.   Just  as  he  was  asking  once  again,  "What's  that?" 
pointing  to  a  rake  leaning  on  the  fence,  he  accidently 
stepped  on  its  teeth,  causing  the  rake  to  hit  him  smartly  on 
the  forehead.    "Hon  maudit,  sacre  tonnerre  de  rateau!*  he 
blurted  out  in  pain.   "Ah, ■  said  his  father  with  a  smile,  "Je 
vois  que  ca  commence  a  te  revenir. ■  ("I  see  it's  coming  back 
to  you.")  (Clotile  Richard  1975;  told  in  French,  my 
translation) 

Sometimes  that's  vhat  it  takes.  It  should  be  pointed  out,  in 

conclusion,  that  there  is  not  a  clear  dividing  point  between  the 

attitudes  of  the  past  and  those  of  today.  The  entire  spectrum  of  jokes 

can  be  found  in  the  current  repertoire.  As  one  informant  put  it,  when  I 

asked  him  if  he  knew  any  jokes  about  Cajuns,  "What  do  you  want?  Upgrade 

or  downgrade?'  Justin  Wilson-type  stories  can  still  be  heard,  and 

usually  people  think  they  are  funny,  but  a  feeling  of  discomfort 

sometimes  accompanies  the  laughter.  There  is  an  unmistakable  tendency 

to  rehabilitate  the  Cajuns'  sense  of  identity  these  days  and  Cajun 

culture  is  showing  renewed  vigor  in  its  oral  literature,  striking  back 

with  the  help  of  rake  handles  and  humor. 


138 


•Tellers'  names  and  session  dates  refer  to  my   collection  in  the  Archive 
of  Folklore  and  Oral  History,  University  of  Southwestern  Louisiana. 


159 


OFF  COLOR  CAJUH  JOKES  (CECILIA  AREA) 
Jay  Edwards 

These  Jokes  were  collected  in  the  local  version  of  Cajun  French  in 
the  town  of  Cecilia,  St.  Martin  Parish,  in  1973.   They  illustrate  many 
of  the  anxieties  and  taboos,  found  among  Cajun  women,  living  in  the 
country  tovns  in  that  period. 

I  do  not  know  if  they  are  appropriate  for  the  Cajun  Culture  Center, 
or  not.   If  properly  explained  and  analyzed,  I  believe  they  could  be 
set  within  the  context  of  the  other  forms  of  humor,  discussed  by 
Ancelet  in  this  report. 


161 


la  inave  sO  gar so  k'ave  Q  e  HOT  DATE  e  sva  avek  en  fi.  epi 
there  was  this  boy  vho  had  had  a  hot  date  vith  a  girl  and 

il  a  pu  ale  s8  kofese  le  landBme.   sas  fe  18  pret  wand 
he  had  to  go  to  confession  the  next  day.  so  the  priest 

ei  il  ave  tuse  la  fan,  kom  it  frote  sQ  so  bra  koa  sa. 

if  he  had  touched  the  voman,  as  he  rubbed  his  arm  like  this. 

i  di  no,  per.  ze  pa  fe  sa.  zS  le  pa  frote.  i  di  tfl  la  tape? 
he  says,  no  father.   I  didn't  do  that.   I  didn't  rub  her.   he 
says  did  you  beat  her? 

no  per,  i  di,  z5  le  pa  tape,  be  i  di  turn  tva  shetva  mo  garso 
no  father,  he  says,  i  didn't  beat  her.  good,  he  says,  go  back 
home  my  boy 

pi  di  manz  se  bal  d8  fve.   Oh,  me  i  di  per,  koma  tQ  krva 
then  he  says  eat  five  bales  of  hay.   Oh,  but  he  says,  father 
hov  do  you  think 

z5  pe  far  pu  manze  se  bal  dS  fve?  i  di,  z8  svi  pa  e  sSvall 

I  can  manage  to  eat  five  bales  of  hay?  he  says,  I'm  not  a  horse! 

me,  i  di,  ve,  me  sa  pra  e  soval  kom  tva  pu  ale  avek  en  fam 
but,  he  says,  yes,  but  it  takes  a  horse  like  you  to  go  vith  a 
voman 

pu  kuse  vek  en  fam  epi  far  a  riyet 

to  sleep  vith  a  voman  and  not  do  anything! 


162 


en  fva  i  nave  en  fi  epi  en  garso.  epi  la  fi  ave  Q  a  far 
once  there  vas  a  girl  and  a  boy.   and  the  girl  had  had  to  do 

avek  en  om  ava  se  marye.   sas  fe  i  di  a  sa  mama,  i  di 

vith  a  man  before  marrying,   so  she  says  to  her  mother,  she  says 

mama,  koma  z8  va  far?   i  va  sapersvar  ke  z8  svi  pa  en  fi. 
mama  how  shall  I  do?  he  vill  notice  that  I'm  not  a  virgin. 

ah,  sa  mama  di,  se  pa  riye  sa  ma  fi.   i  di  on  a  pu  far  busri 
ah,  her  mother  says,  that's  nothing  my  girl,   she  says,  ve  have 
a  busherie  (butchering) 

ozurdvi.  e,  i  di,  o  va  prand  en  orey  d'koso  epi,  i  di  tQ  va 
today,   and  she  says,  we'll  take  a  pig's  ear  and  she  says,  you'll 

t'  kole  sal  sas  fe  i  di  a  svar,  i  di  kom  vuzot  va  komase 
stick  that  on  yourself!   so,  she  says,  at  night  when  you  begin 

i  di,  sa  sra  sere,  i  va  zame  s'apersevwar,   sas  fe  kS  de  fet. 
she  says  it'll  be  tight,   he  vill  never  notice,   so  it  vas. 

izo  komase  ISr  ACTION,  la,  la  fi  s'lamante,  es'  1  amantel 
they  began  their  action.   There,  the  girl  vailed,  she  vailed! 

oh,  lvi,  s'15v  mal5r8.   i  di,  i  par  pu  var  apre  18  doktor 

oh,  him,  he  gets  up,  the  poor  soul,   he  says,  he  leaves  to  see 

about  a  doctor 

pu  sa  fam.  il  arive  en  but  e  deyor.  i  rBturn  d'abor,  i  di 

for  his  vife.   he  gets  a  little  vays  outside,   he  returns  first, 

he  says 

oh  mom,  i  di,  ga  i  di,  z8  va  met  la  kokot  d8  ma  fam  a  ho  l'lornish 
oh  mom,  he  says,  look  he  says,  I'll  put  my  wife's  kokot  (sexual 
parts)  on  top  of  the  cornice 

i  di  si  el  vB  pise! 

he  says  in  case  she  vants  to  piss! 


163 


en  fwa  inave  en  viye  fam  epi  e  viy5oom.  iz  ave  en  bel  baskur  d5  pul. 
once  upon  a  time  there  vas  an  old  woman  and  an  old  man.   They  had 
a  beautiful  chicken  coop. 

epi  iz  ave  e  peroke.  e  lwi  ete  ada  la  kaz  tu  l'ta.   sas  fe  e  zur 
and  then  they  had  a  parrot,   and  he  vas  in  a  cage  all  the  time, 
so  one  day 

18  viyo  om  vye  kote  sa  viye  fam,  i  di  viye,  pukwa  tQ  las  pa 
the  old  man  comes  near  his  wife,  he  says,  old  woman  why  don't 
you  free 

1'  peroke.  i  di,  pov  bet  si  epasia  da  set  kazl  oh  no,  i  di, 
the  parrot,  he  says,  the  poor  thing  is  so  frustrated  in  that 
cage!  oh,  no,  she  says 

paskfi  i  va  far  dQ  mal  a  me  pul.   oh,  tu  krwa  pa  sa  viye  i  di. 
because  he'll  hurt  my  chickens.   Oh,  you  don't  believe  that  old 
woman,  he  says. 

sas  fe,  i  lwi  l'S  lase.  il  a  pa  perdu  d'ta  sar,  i  va.  i  gremp 
so  they  let  him  go.   he  didn't  lose  any  time,  dear  he  goes,   he 
climbs 

en  pul.  oh,  il  di  atrap  IS,  i  di,  trap  les,  i  di,  me  15  da  la 

on  a  hen.   oh,  she  says,  catch  him,  she  says,  catch  them,  she  says 

put  him  in 

kaz.  Sasfe,  el  trap  16  peroke,  i  la  mi  da  la  kaz  akor 

the  cage,   so  she  catches  the  parrot,  and  they  put  him  in  the  cage 

again. 

15  ta  apre  sa,  i  di  viye  tu  las  pa  15  peroke,  i  di.  oh  no 
the  time  after  that,  he  says,  old  woman,  you  don't  the  parrot 
he  says,  oh  no 

i  di  z5  lasra  pa.  i  va  far  la  mem  sos  il  a  fe  la  promyar  fwal 
she  says,  I  won't  free  him.   He'll  do  the  same  thing  he  did  the 
first  timel 

sas  fe,  oh,  no,  i  di,  na  tro  d5  ta  viye  i  di,  il  a  ubliye  tu  sa. 
so,  oh,  no  he  says,  it's  too  long  ago  old  woman  he  says,  he's 
forgotten  all  that 

sas  fe  la  viye  la  lase.  me  ser,  el  lave  pa  lase,  il  a  komase 

so  the  old  woman  lets  him  out.   but  dear,  she  had  hardly  let  him 

go,  he  began 

deryar  le  pul  akor.  pasko  il  a,  la  fam  l'trap.  i  di,  viye  isi 
behind  the  hens  again,   because  he  did,  the  woman  catches  him, 
she  says,  come  here 


164 


so  ti  gars,  se  sa  tQ  v6  fer?  el  a  tu  eplume  sa  tet. 

my  lad.  Is  that  vhat  you  vant  to  do?  she  plucked  all  the  feathers 

from  his  head. 

el  a  ml  la  tet  prop,   epl  la,  e  di,  dlmas  zO  vS  tu  va  a  la  mes 
she  plucked  his  head  clean,   and  then  she  says,  Sunday  I  vant  you 
to  go  to  Mass. 

e  t'asvar  dBda  18  prSyme  ba  an  ava.   sas  fe  11  a  ete  a  la  mes. 
and  to  sit  In  the  front  in  the  first  rov.   so,  he  vent  to  mass. 

sak  ki  rant re  da  l'egliz  i  turne  sa  tet  epi  i  gete. 

each  one  vho  entered  the  churn,  he  turned  his  head  and  looked  (at). 

tut  a  18 r  ina  en  viyo  ora  BALDHEAD  k'a  rantre.  i's'  turn  kom  sa 
after  a  vhile  and  old  baldheaded  man  comes  in.   he  turns  like  this 

idi,  'hey,  tvo, ■  1  di,  "viyS  koke  d8  pul,  viye  t'asvar  an  ava 
he  says,  "hey,  you",  he  says,  "old  cuckold  of  hens,  come  sit  in 
front 

avek  mval" 
vith  mel" 


165 


PART  VI  CAJUN  MUSIC 


167 


CAJUN  AMD  CREOLE  MUSIC t  ORIGINS  AND  DEVELOPMENT 
Barry  Jean  Ancelet 

Like  Host  other  features  of  Louisiana  French  culture,  Cajun  nusic 
and  zarico  are  the  products  of  creolization.  Cajun  music  is  a  blend  of 
German,  Spanish  Scotch,  Irish,  Anglo-American,  Afro-Caribbean  and 
American  Indian  influences  vith  a  base  of  western  French  and  French 
Acadian  folk  tradition.  Zarico,  the  most  contemporary  expression  of 
black  Creole  music,  and  its  precursors  like  la-la  and  lure,  developed 
from  the  same  set  of  influences  vith  a  heavier  dose  of  Afro-Caribbean 
rhythms  and  styles.  Both  traditions  vere  built  by  musicians  vho  had 
little  or  no  formal  training  vho  improvised  the  music  of  their 
generation  out  of  the  ones  that  came  before  them.  Cajun  music  differs 
substantially  from  the  traditional  music  of  its  sister  French  American 
cultures  in  Quebec,  Nev  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  Nev  England  and  even 
Missouri  because  none  of  these  other  places  had  the  unique  blend  of 
ingredients  found  in  South  Louisiana.  Similarly,  zarico  differs  from 
the  music  of  the  black  South.  Further,  Cajun  music  and  zarico  vere  born 
in  exile,  of  ancient  traditions  vhich  found  themselves  displaced,  in  a 
Nev  World  vhere  old  vays  did  not  stand  in  the  vay  of  nev  combinations. 
In  the  earliest  period  of  French  influence,  betveen  the  claiming  of 
Louisiana  by  Lasalle  in  1682  and  the  first  efforts  at  colonization  in 
1699,  there  vas  obviously  little  music.  Louisiana  vas  explored  and 
colonized  primarily  by  men  vho  had  already  been  changed  by  the  frontier 
and  vere  no  longer  French  but  French  Canadians.  The  most  important 
aspect  of  this  nev  North  American  experience  vas  personal  freedom. 


169 


Away  from  the  constraints  of  the  complex  European  system,  these  early 
settlers  began  to  create  a  new  identity  for  themselves  to  coincide  with 
the  new  life  they  had  in  the  New  World.  This  new  life  depended  only  on 
their  own  abilities  and  ambitions.  They  were  free  to  take  as  big  a  bite 
as  they  thought  they  could  chew.  The  personal  freedom  available  to 
these  early  explorers  was  reflected  in  their  folklore  and  traditions. 
Their  oral  tradition  began  to  include  a  large  repertoire  of  tall  tales, 
in  addition  to  their  western  European  stock  of  animal  tales  and  fairy 
tales.  Their  songs  began  to  include  bawdy  and  humerous  songs  as  well  as 
the  traditional  ballads  they  brought  with  them  from  France.  Some  older 
songs  coincided  with  contemporary  preoccupations.  "A  qui  me  passera  du 
bois.  ■  for  example,  told  of  a  maiden  lost  in  the  woods.  Other  songs 
were  developed  to  reflect  conditions  in  the  New  World.  *La  Plainte  du 
coureur  de  bois*  tells  of  the  loneliness  of  trappers  and  hunters  during 
the  long  Canadian  winters  and  described  the  socializing  aspect  of 
spring  when  they  would  come  in  to  trade  their  goods  and  to  see  their 
wives  and  lovers. 

Some  songs  clearly  reflected  their  European  origins.  They  sang 
unaccompanied  ballads  which  preserved  history  and  told  of  wives  and 
wars  and  faraway  lands.  Songs  like  'Malbrouqh  e'en  va-t-querre, ■  'La 
Belle  et  le  capitaine. ■  *La  Guerre  de  septs  ans,  ■  and  "Trois  lolls 
tambours. ■  reflect  the  history  and  tradition  of  France. 

Another  popular  French  song  tradition  transplanted  to  Acadia  and 
Louisiana  was  the  drinking  song,  called  in  the  New  World,  la  chanson  de 
bamboche.  These  were  especially  popular  at  social  gatherings  like 
Christmas  and  New  Year  celebrations,  wedding  receptions  and  house 


170 


dances,  and  some,  like  'Trinquons. ■  vere  often  repeated  to  mark  the 

pouring  of  each  nev  glass. 

Trinquons,  trinquons,  wee  chers  camarades, 

Mais  oublions  jamaig  la  raison. 

Soutenez  roon  verre  et  we  voila  par  terre. 

Chantez  de  boire  du  Matin  au  soir. 

Que  le  tonnerre  qroqne  et  que  la  muraille  recule. 

We  voila  par  terre  du  matin  au  soir. 

(As  sung  by  Fenelus  and  Cleveland  Sonnier,  Erath,  1934;  Lomax/AFS 

26a3)   Some  of  these  have  survived  even  today.  The  universally  knovn 

"Chevaliers  de  la  table  ronde  is  echoed  in  'Fais  trois  de  la  table 

ronde.  ■  vhich  retains  essential  elements  of  the  pre-Aurthurian  fisher 

king  legend  vhich  describes  the  efforts  to  revive  the  ailing  king  and 

his  land  vhich  is  dying  vith  him  by  questing.  Meanwhile,  the  king  is 

kept  alive  vith  a  trickle  of  alcohol. 

0  fais  trois  tours  de  la  table  ronde, 

Fais  trois  tours  de  la  table  ronde.   Allons  en  chercher, 

chercher.  chercher,  chercher.   Q  c'est  quoi,  se  divertir. 

c'est  comme  des  camarades. 

C'est  quoi.  se  divertir,  c'est  comme  des  camarades. 

Allons  en  chercher.  chercher.  chercher.  chercher.   Un  de  nos 

plus  grands  de  nos  ivroqnes  etait  au  lit  malade. 

Hettez  lui  couche  en  bas  d'une  table  de  vln. 

Allons  en  chercher.  chercher,  chercher.  chercher. 

Tous  les  temps  en  temps  quittez  une  qoutte  deqouter, 

Tous  les  temps  en  temps  quittez  une  qoutte  deqouter. 

Allons  en  chercher.  chercher.  chercher,  chercher.   De  leur 

quitter  une  qoutte  deqouter.  c'est  pour  les  satisfaire.  De 

leur  quitter  une  qoutte  deqouter.  c'est  pour  les  sat isf aire. 

Allons  en  chercher,  chercher,  chercher,  chercher. 

(As  sung  by  Kenry  Fontenot,  Welsh,  1977;  Ancelet  collection, 

USL/FA)   This  theme  is  even  found  in  conte»porary  dance  music,  as  heard 

in  the  Balfa  Brothers  *Parlez-nous  aboire.  non  pas  du  mariaqe.  ♦  ♦  *  (The 

Balfa  Brothers  play  Traditional  Cajun  Music,  Svallov  Records)  and  "La 

Danee  de  liraonade*  (Nathan  Abshire,   Pinegrove  Blues  ,  Svallov  Records) 


171 


Founded  in  1604,  Port  Royal  vas  one  of  the  first  European 
settlements  north  of  Mexico.  At  least  85%  of  the  settlers  who 
eventually  became  the  Acadians  came  from  a  20  mile  radius  around  Loudun 
in  the  province  of  Poitou 

in  1632.  Other  settlers  came  from  Bretagne,  Normandie  and  parts  of 
southvestern  France.  Though  they  were  primarily  farmers  at  first,  some 
already  knew  the  vays  of  the  sea  and  others  soon  came  to  learn  them  as 
fishermen  on  the  Acadian  peninsula.  This  maritime  heritage  is  reflected  in 
"Sept  ans  sur  mer. *  a  sailor's  shanty  about  a  shipwrecked  family  vhich  is 
known  all  along  the  coast  of  Europe  from  the  North  Sea  to  the  Hediterrean: 


On  a  passe  six  ans  sur  mer  Sans  pouvoir  border  la  terre.   Au 

bout  de  la  septieme  annee.   On  a  manque  de  provisions.   On  a 

mange  souris  et  rats 

Jusque  le  tourbe  de  navire.   On  a  tire  la  courte  paille 

Pour  voir  lequel  qui  serait  mange.   0  voila  d  petit  Jean  qu'il 

tombe  au  sort. 

Ca  serait  petit  Jean  qui  serait  mange.   0  petit  Jean,  ca  lui 

fait  du  mal. 

II  crie,  "Courage,  mes  caroarades.   "Je  vols  la  terre  sur 

toutes  c'tes. 

Trois  pigeons  blancs  gui  sont  a  voltiger.   "Je  vols  aussi 

trois  filles  du  prince 

Qui  Be  promenaient  au  long  du  rivage.   "0  si  jamais  je  mets 

les  pieds  sur  terre. 

La  plus  jolie.  je  l'epouserai. * 

(As  sung  by  Elita  Hoffpauir,  Nev  Iberia,  1934;  Lomax/AFS  31al) 

Other  traditions  affected  the  Acadian  repertoire  as  veil.  Some 

songs  apparently  reflect  the  Celtic  origins  of  some  Acadian  settlers. 

"Madame  Gallien.  "  for  example,  portrays  a  mother  who  inadvertantly 

makes  a  pact  with  a  faerie  by  wishing  while  walking  down  a  long  country 

lane: 

Madame  Gallien  etait  promenant 

Dans  son  jardin.  son  coeur  bien  chagrin. 

Tout  le  long  d'une  allee. Elle  faisait  gue  pleurer. 

Toujours  en  esperant  Pierrot  Grouillet  pour  se  marier. 


172 


Pierrot  Grouillet.  il  est  arrive. 

II  dit.  'Josette.  faut  ee  warier,*   Tout  chacun  s'en  va  chez 

soi 

Pour  laisser  savoir  a  tout, 

Danse.  eur  le  Moment, 

Monsieur  le  cure  publiera  les  bans.   0  son  parrain.  il  la 

consentant. 

II  dit.  'Moi.  1'irai  les  wiener."   Deux  vieux  boeufs.  deux 

vieux  chevaux 

Atteles  sur  un  vieux  chariot  Pour  aller  marier 

Pierrot  Grouillet  et  Mademoiselle  Josette.   Dans  le  chemin. 

lis  ont  fait  rencontre 

D'un  petit  bonhowme, 

Un  pied  chausse  et  1' autre  nu.   Son  violon  dans  son  bras,  Son 

archet  dans  sa  wain, 

II  disait  gu'il  voulait  iouer 

Jusqu'a  qu'il  n'ait  plus  de  souliers. 

(As  sung  by  Lanese  Vincent  and  Sidney  Richard,  Kaplan,  1934; 
Lomax/AFS  28bl) 

When  the  Acadians  vere  exiled  in  1755,  they  took  vith  thew  fev 

possessions.  They  nevertheless  carried  vith  thew  a  rich  cultural 

heritage  vhich  included  their  persistent  sense  of  identity  based  on  a 

blend  of  French,  Celtic,  Scots-Irish,  and  native  Awerican  influences, 

reflected  in  a  rich  oral  tradition  and  a  repertoire  of  songs  and 

dances.  Music  for  dancing  was  preserved  in  huwwed  reels  a  bouche. 

Sometimes,  changes  in  tunes  and  lyrics  reflected  the  Nev  World  and 

especially  the  new  Louisiana  context.  In  the  French  version  of  'Cadet 

Roussel. *  one  finds  features  of  traditional  French  architecture 

described  in  classic  French  grammar: 

Cadet  Roussel  a  trois  waisons  (bis) 

Qui  n'ont  ni  poutre  ni  chevrons,  (bis)  C'est  pour  loqer  les 

hirondelles. 

Que  direz-vous  de  Cadet  Roussel?   Ah.  ah,  ah  oui  vraiment. 

Cadet  Roussel  est  bon  enfant. 

In  an  early  Louisiana  version  collected  by  Irene  Whitfield 
Holmes  during  the  1930s,  there  are  changes  vhich  reflect  the 
poteaux-en-terre  building  technique  used  in  Nev  France  and  Acadia 
as  veil  as  a  more  informal  grammar: 


173 


Cadet  Roussel  a  une  maison,  qui  n'a  ni  poteaux.  ni  chevrons. 
C'est  pour  loqer  les  hirondelles,  qui  croyez-vous  de  cadet 
Roussel?    Ha.  ha,  ha,  oui,  vrainent.  Cadet  Roussel.  c'est 
un  bon  qarcon. 

In  a  later  version  collected  in  Kamou  during  the  early  1960s  by 

Harry  Oster,  there  are  further  modifications: 

Cadet  Roussel.  c'est  un  bon  jeune  homwe. 

Cadet  Roussel,  c'est  un  vaillant  bouqre.   Cadet  Roussel.  il  a 

des  chiens  que  le  roi  n'a  pas  de  si  bons. 

Un  aux  lapins  et  l'autre  si  bete  que  quand  il  l'appelle.  il 

se  sauve. 

Ah  oui. 
vraiment.   Cadet  Roussel,  il  a  une  habille  que  le  roi  n'a  pas  de 
si  belle. 

Elle  est  doublee  de  papier  qris.  elle  est  cousue  de  la 

ficelle. 

Ah  oui,  vraiment.   Cadet  Rouselle.  il  a  des  chevaux  que  le 

roi  n'a  pas  des  si  bons. 

lis  sont  si  qras  que  les  os  percent  la  selle. 

Ah  oui,  vraiment.   Cadet  Rouselle,  il  a-t-un  clos  que  le  roi 

n'a  pas  des  si  grands. 

II  est  si  grand,  11  monte  une  face,  il  crache  sur  l'autre. 

Ah  oui,  vraiment.   Cadet  Rouselle,  c'est  un  bon  .jeune  horome. 

Cadet  Rouselle.  c'est  un  vaillant  bouqre. 

(As  sung  by  Isom  Fontenot,  Hamou;  Oster  collection,  FA/USD 


There  is  no  verse  concerning  his  house  in  the  entire  text  of  this 

version,  perhaps  indicating  that  poteaux-en-terre  proved  to  be  a 

disastrous  building  practice  in  humid,  termite-infested  South 

Louisiana.    There  is  also  a  definite  creolization  of  vocabulary  and 

grammar  in  this  version. 

Similarly,  there  is  a  noticeable  change  of  vocabulary  and  style  in 

the  following  versions  of  *Le  Mariaqe  des  animaux. ■  A  version  collected 

in  Quebec  reflects  the  preservation  of  animals  vhich  were  familiar  to 

the  settlers  of  Nev  France: 

C'est  un  corbeau  puis  une  corneille 
Qui  voulaient  bien  se  marier. 


l?k 


. 


Mais  lis  voulaient  bien  faire  des  noceg 

Mais  lis  n'avaient  pas  de  quoi  manger.   Li  Ion  la...  il  y  en 

aura. 

Mais  ils  voulaient  bien  faire  des  noces  Mais  lis  n'avaient 

pas  de  quoi  ganger. 

Apercoit  venir  un  qros  renard. 

Troia  quarts  de  lard  dessus  son  corps.   Li  Ion  la. . .  il  y  en 

aura.    Mais  pour  du  lard,  nous  en  avons. 

Mais  c'est  du  pain  que  nous  aanquons. 

Apercoit  venir  un  qros  lapln. 

II  tient  un  pain  dessus  ses  reins.   Li  Ion  la. . .  il  y  en 

aura. 

A  version  collected  in  Louisiana  preserves  the  basic  sequential 

structure  of  this  song.  Some  of  the  characters  are  replaced  vith 

animals  more  familiar  to  the  South  Louisiana  context.  Others  like  the 

corbiqeau  reflect  the  Acadians  passage  in  Canada: 

C'est  la  caille  et  le  perdrix 

Qui  se  marient.  o  oui  lundi. 

Du  monde,  nous  avons-t-assez. 

C'est  du  vin  qui  nous  wanquera.   Leureleureleur.  bel  oiseau, 

a  rien  de  plus  beau.   Passe  ici  une  souris.  dessus  son  dos 

porte  une  barril. 

Passe  ici  une  souris,  dessus  son  dos  porte  une  barril. 

Du  monde  et  du  vin,  nous  avons  assez. 

C'est  de  la  viande  qui  nous  manquera.   Leureleureleur.  bel 

oiseau.  a  rien  de  plus  beau.   Passe  ici  un  corbiqeau,  dessus 

son  dos  porte  un  qiqot. 

Passe  ici  un  corbiqeau.  dessus  son  dos  porte  un  qiqot. 

Du  monde  et  du  vin  et  de  la  viande,  nous  avons  avons  assez. 

C'est  du  pain  qui  nous  manquera.   Leureleureleur.  bel  oiseau, 

a  rien  de  plus  beau.   Passe  ici  un  pigeon,  dedans  son  bee 

porte  un  pain  long.  Passe  ici  un  pigeon,  dedans  son  bee  porte 

un  pain  long.  Du  monde  et  du  vin  et  de  la  viande  et  du  pain. 

nous  avons  assez.  C'est  la  musigue  gui  nous  manquera. 

Leureleureleur.  bel  oiseau,  a  rien  de  plus  beau.   Passe  ici 

un  gros  rat,  dessus  son  bras  porte  un  violon.   Passe  ici  un 

qros  rat,  dessus  son  bras  porte  un  violon. 

Le  qros  chat  qui  est  au  qrenier.  'Miaou,  miaou,  miaou. 

Miaou,  miaou,  miaou.  *   "C'est  pas  mon  violon  que  je 

reqretterai. 

Mais  c'est  mes  os  qui  vont  craler.   Leureleureleur.  bel 

oiseau.  g  rien  de  plus  beau. 

(As  sung  by  Sabry  Guidry,  Abbeville,  1976;  Ancelet  collection, 

FA/USL) 


175 


In  some  cases,  only  the  kernel  of  the  story  survives.  "Grand  Dleu. 

que  ie  gulfl  a  won  alse. ■  a  well-known  French  folksong,  loses  most  of 

its  direct  references  to  European  wars  in  the  Hew  World  version.  This 

excerpt  from  a  French  version  includes  specific  European  references: 

Grand  Dieu.  que  1e  suis  a  won  aise 

Ouand  1'ai  ma  mie  aupres  de  moi,  aupres  de  moi. 

De  temps  en  temps,  1e  la  reqarde 

Et  1e  lui  dis.  "Embrasse-moi. "   'Comment  veux-tu  que  ie 

t'embrasse.  Ouand  on  me  dit  du  mal  de  toi.  du  mal  de  toi? 

On  me  dit  que  tu  pars  pour  la  guerre  Chez  les  Flamands, 

defendre  le  roi.  * 

The  following  Louisiana  version,  sung  in  1977  by  Odile  Falcon,  of 

Lafayette,  is  remarkably  complete,  though  it  generalizes  the  references 

to  the  war: 

Oh.  Grand  Dieu,  coreme  le  suis-t-a  mon  aise  Quand  le  la  vols, 

elle  assise  aupres  de  moi.   'Temps  en  temps  je  vous  reqarde, 

ma  douce  aimee.  Oh.  ma  douce  aimee,  embrasee  done  moi. "   "Oh, 

cher  affiant,  comment  tu  veux  moi.  le  t'embrasse  Quand  on  me 

defend  de  t' aimer  tous  les  lours.   Un  petit  mot  qui  me  monte 

a  l'oreille. 

C'etait  de  me  faire  faire  un  petit  portrait.   Un  petit 

portrait  de  ta  ressemblance 

Et  cent  fois  par  lour,  le  l'embrasserai. *   "Q'est-ce  que  tes 

amis  diraient  de  toi. 

Te  voir  embrasser  ce  petit  portrait?'   'Je  leur  direai  que 

e'est  le  portrait,  Que  e'est  le  portrait  de  ma  bien  aimee  Que 

.1 ' avals  quittee  d'un  si  grand  regret 

Pour  partlr  servir  sur  l'armee  requliere.   Oh  rearaan.  elle 

vena  me  souffler  un  petit  mot  a  l'oreille 

en  me  disant  que  1'etais  parti.   J'etais  parti  pour  servir  le 

grand  roi. 

Servir  le  grand  roi  sur  l'armee  requliere. 

(As  sung  by  Odile  Falcon,  Lafayette,  1976;  Ancelet  collection, 
FA/USL) 

Singers  sometimes  aproximated  unfamiliar  sounds  when  they  did  not 
understand  geographic  references  from  the  old  country.  'Le  Pont  de 
Nantes. ■  a  well-known  French  folksong  about  a  bridge  in  one  of  the 
principal  citiee  in  Brittany,  survived  the  Atlantic  crossing  under 


176 


several  titles,  Including  "Au  Pont  dee  vues. ■  *Au  pont  du  nord. ■  "Le 

Pont  du  Nane. "  and  *  Bon lour.  Helene. ■ 

Older  French  songs  vere  often  adapted  to  new  styles  or  recent 

events.  'La  Veuve  de  sept  ana, ■  originally  a  complainte  about  tvo 

lovers  separated  during  the  Crusades,  became  in  Acadia  a  song  about  the 

Seven  Years  War: 

J 'avals  une  waitresse.  un  lour  y  avait  lonqtemps. 

J'ai  recu  une  lettre.  'en  guerre  il  faut  aller. *   Ma  pauvre 

petite  waitresse  ne  fait  que  brailler 

Toute  la  nuit  et  toute  la  journee.   *En  guerre  1'm'en  vas.  ma 

belle.  1'reviens  dans  une  semaine 

Attendrir  nos  amours. *  Ca  bien  dure  sept  ans.  pendant  ma 

vinqtieroe  annee 

J'suis  rentre  en  Acadie.   J'ai  ete  voir  ma  belle  qui  pouvait 

pas  me  reqarder. 

Oh.  la  qrande  misere.   J'ai  ete  voir  ma  mere  qui  braillait, 

Hon  pere  est  mort,  aes  freres  sont  morts,  ma  terre  ruinee  Ma 

belle  mariee  a  cause  de  la  maudite  guerre.   Ecoutez-moi  bien. 

jeunes  gens.   Partez  jamais  a  la  guerre.   J'ai  perdu  mon 

pere.  perdu  ma  famille, 

Ma  terre  est  toute  ruinee 

A  cause  de  la  maudite  guerre. 

(As  sung  by  Pierre  Robichaux,   1755  ,  Presqu'Ale  Records) 

A  similar  song  in  Louisiana  has  the  maiden  placed  in  a  convent 

where  she  dies  there  of  a  broken  heart  before  her  lover  returns  from 

his  campaign  at  var: 

Une  jeune  fille  de  quatorze  ans. 

0  oui.  Grand  Dieu.  que  la  belle  brune. 

Un  soir  elle  dit  a  son  papa, 

'Papa,  le  veux  me  marier.  "Fillette.  leunesse.  mais 

taisez-vous. 

Vous  n'avez  pas  encore  quinze  ans.  Vous  n'avez  pas  encore 

quinze  ans 

Pour  plaire  a-t-un  amant. 'Quand  la  belle  a  entendu  ce 

dlscours, 

Elle  a  monte  dans  sa  chaumiere. 

Ses  beaux  yeux  noirs, 

Elle  les  a  essuyes. 

Elle  avait  plus  qu'un  seul  petit  frere 

Qui  la  reconsole  nuit  comme  le  lour. 

*Ma  chere  soeur.  reconsole-toi. 

Papa  te  mettra  au  couvent, 

Droit  au  couvent  des  orphelines 

177 


La  ou  ce  qu'on  prle  le  Dleu  souvent. *  "Mais  c'est  celui  que 

mon  coeur  alme. 

II  est  esclave  dedans  la  guerre. 'J'ai  ete  en  guerre  quatre 

ans  de  temps. 

Je  we  suis  battu  de  nuit  et  lour. 

Quand  je  suis  revenu  de  ma  revolte. 

Drolte  chez  la  belle,  je  m'en  ai  ete. 

En  demandant.  "Et  ou  la  belle? 

Et  ou  la  belle  que  1'aimais  tant? 

Ses  beaux  jeux  nolrs.  je  voudrals  les  voir. 

Je  voudrals  les  voir  encore  une  fois. 

'On  m'a  repond,  *Ta  belle  a  tol. 

Elle  est  plus  la  pour  tol  la  voir. 

Elle  est  morte  et  enterree 

Depuls  trois  lours,  c'est  pas  lonqtemps. 

'Bonsoir.  la  belle,  pour  la  dernlere  fois. 

T'es  dans  ta  tombe.  je  t'aime  encore. 

Mes  yeux  pleureront  de  nuit  et  lour. 

C'est  pour  la  belle  brune  que  j'almais  tant. 

Je  me  feral  falre  un  grand  crepe  noir 

Pendant  six  roots  le  le  porteral. 

(As  sung  by  Jullen  Hoffpauir,  Nev  Iberia,  1934;  Lomax/AFS  32b2) 


Still  another  Louisiana  version  presents  the  dilemma  of  the  woman 

whose  fiance  Is  called  away  to  war  on  the  their  wedding  day.  He 

comforts  her  saying  that  he  will  be  back  in  six  weeks,  two  months  at 

the  most,  a  line  echoed  by  the  Confederates  as  they  left  for  the  Civil 

War.  Believing  herself  a  widow  after  seven  years,  she  remarries  only  to 

have  her  first  husband  return  shortly  after  the  wedding.  She  is  then 

forced  to  chose  between  the  two: 

Dessus  le  premier  lour  des  noces.  il  v  a  ete  venu  un 

commandement. 

II  y  a  ete  venu  un  commandement.  oh  un  comroandement  de 

guerre. 

'C'est  a  la  guerre  11  faut  aller.  C'est  a  la  guerre  il  faut 

partir 

'Oh.  guand  la  belle  a  entendu  ca,  el  e  se  wit  a  se  desoler. 

'Ne  pleurez  pas  autant  la  belle,  ne  versez  pas  autant  larrees. 

Oh.  ma  campaqne  serait  pas  lonque.  six  semaines  a  deux  tools 

le  plus. 

'Oh.  ma  campaqne.  elle  a  bien  ete  belle,  elle  a  ete  belle  et 

belle  et  lonque. 


178 


Oh.  ma  campaqne.  elle  a  bien  dure,  oh.  reqarde,  elle  a  dure 

sept  ans. 

Au  bout  de  la  septieme  annee.  oh.  quand  i'ai  pu  roe  retirer. 

C'etait  revenlr  chez  moi,  cetait  trouver  la  mariee.  C'etait 

trouver  ma  bien  aimee  qui  sortalt  d'etre  epousee. 

Elle  s'est  tournee  a  sa  mere,  "Oh.  vierqe.  vierqe.  douce 

vlerqe. 

Quo!  ce  qu'en  devlendra  de  moi?  Regards  done  sept  ans  1e  we 

croyais  veuve,  et  roe  voila  avec  deux  marls. * 

'Courage,  courage,  courage,  ma  fllle, 

Que  le  premier  choix  de  l'homroe  lui  appartienne  a  lui  ses 

droits.  * 

(As  sung  by  Agnes  Bourque,  Nev  Iberia,  1974;  Stanford  collection, 
J'etais  au  bal  ,  Svallov  Records) 

Creolization  has  not  only  affected  the  texts  of  songs  brought  by 
the  Acadian  exiles  and  French  immigrants.  One  result  of  the  blues 
influence  in  Louisiana  French  tradition  occurs  in  the  melody  in  the 
transformation  of  gay,  lilting  European  melodies  to  soulful,  plaintive 
tunes.  'Hon  petit  mari. ■  for  example,  vhich  in  the  French  version 
typically  combines  rather  gruesome  lyrics  concerning  the  devouring  of 
the  diminutive  husband  by  the  housecat  vith  a  joyous  tune,  keeps 
basically  the  same  storyline  in  the  Acadian  version,  but  the  melody  is 
altered  to  a  more  suitable,  plaintive  style.  Even  a  danse  ronde  like 
'Ah  mon  beau  chateau"  in  Louisiana  sounds  much  more  plaintive  than  its 
older  European  counterpart  because  of  the  addition  of  a  blues  seventh 
to  the  end  of  the  second  line.  The  tunes  of  other  vell-knovn  French 
danse  rondes.  or  play  party  songs,  like  "Papillon.  vole. ■  'J'ai  ete-z 
au  bal  hier  au  soir"  (not  the  contemporary  dance  tune  of  the  same 
title),  and  'La  fete  prlntaniere'  have  been  adapted  to  the  singing 
style  of  the  region  which  esteems  an  edge  and  a  more  bluesy  sound  than 
is  found  in  France. 


179 


Early  Louisiana  French  instrumental  tradition  vas  based  on 
familiar  instruments  like  the  fiddle  or  violin.  Yet  it  is  doubtful  that 
the  earliest  settlers  or  the  Acadian  exiles  ovned  instruments.  The 
earliest  mention  of  instruments  in  Louisiana  colonial  records  is  in  the 
succession  of  a  fiddler  and  clarinettist  named  Prejean  in  1782.  Western 
French  instrumental  tradition  had  included  brass  and  reed  instruments 
such  as  the  binlou  or  cabrette  (instruments  of  the  bagpipe  family  found 
in  Celtic  and  southwestern  French  traditions)  and  trumpets  (videly  used 
in  Poitou.  These  instruments  fell  into  disuse  in  the  Hev  World.  Tunes 
were  transferred  to  stringed  instruments,  yet  retained  a  distinctive 
drone.  The  French  vielle  a  roue,  with  its  characteristic  bourdon  drone, 
as  too  complicated  and  delicate  to  survive  frontier  conditions,  but 
early  fiddlers  playing  in  open  tuning  achieved  a  similar  effect.  By  the 
time  of  the  exile,  English  and  Scots-Irish  reels,  jigs,  hornpipes  and 
contredanses  had  already  enriched  the  Acadians'  repertoire  of  dance 
music. 

When  instruments  were  unavailable  or,  at  times,  such  as  Lent,  when 
instrumental  music  vas  forbidden,  the  Acadians  had  managed  to  dance 
anyway,  producing  music  with  their  voices,  clapping  their  hands,  and 
stamping  their  feet  for  percussion.  If  the  repertoire  of  round  dances 
became  stale,  they  simply  used  their  voices  as  instruments  to  produce 
dance  tunes  called  des  reels  a  bouche.  Descriptions  of  the  Acadians  at 
the  time  of  the  Dispersion  invariably  mention  their  insatiable  love  of 
dancing.  In  a  letter  to  his  intendant  dated  March  12,  1764,  Saltoris 
described  a  communal  wedding  and  baptism  blessing  ceremony  among  the 
Acadians  in  Saint-Domingue:  "They  did  not  eat  until  every  one  had  given 
his  toast.  They  danced,  the  old  and  the  young  alike,  all  dancing  to  a 


180 


fast  step. ■  (Colonial  Records  Collection,  USL  Center  for  Louisiana 
Studies)  Later,  in  the  early  nineteenth  century,  this  still  held  true. 
C.  C.  Robin's  travelogue  from  1803-1805  maintains  that  the  Acadians 
"love  to  dance  most  of  all;  more  than  any  other  people  in  the  colony. 
At  one  time  during  the  year,  they  give  balls  for  travelers  and  will  go 
ten  or  fifteen  leagues  to  attend  one.  Everyone  dances,  even  grandmere 
and  grandpere,  no  natter  what  the  difficulties  they  must  bear.  There 
May  be  only  a  couple  of  fiddles  to  play  for  the  crovd,  there  may  be 
only  four  candles  for  light,  placed  on  vooden  arms  attached  to  the 
vail;  nothing  but  long  vooden  benches  to  sit  on,  and  only  exceptionally 
a  fev  bottles  of  tafia  diluted  vith  vater  for  refreshment;  no  matter, 
everyone  dances. "   Acadian  exiles  began  arriving  in  Louisiana  in  1765, 
vith  the  deliberate  intention  of  recreating  their  society  on  French 
territory.   The  first  to  arrive,  hovever,  vere  surprised  to  find 
themselves  under  Spanish  rule,  Louisiana  having  been  ceded  to  Spain  in 
1782.  Yet  Spanish  language  and  culture  prevailed  only  at  the  highest 
administrative  level;  everyday  life  in  the  colony  continued  to  be 
essentially  in  French.  The  majority  of  the  Acadians  vho  came  to 
Louisiana  arrived  between  1765  and  1785.  The  last  groups  came  primarily 
by  vay  of  Santo  Domingo  and  Spain.  An  attempt  to  repatriate  some  of  the 
exiles  in  France  failed  because,  among  other  reasons,  the  Acadians  vere 
no  longer  interested  in  living  in  vhat  amounted  to  a  feudal  system 
under  the  French  monarchy.  Many  of  these  offered  themselves  to  the  King 
of  Spain  as  settlers  for  his  nevly  acquired  colony  in  Louisiana.  There 
they  joined  other  Acadians  in  establishing  vhat  they  called  la  Nouvelle 
Acadie. 


181 


The  Acadians  settled  along  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
Bayou  Lafourche,  and  in  the  lands  west  of  the  Atchafalaya  Basin  near 
the  PoBte  des  Attakapas  and  the  Poste  des  Qpelousas.  In  all  three  areas 
they  lived  in  relative  (though  not  total)  isolation  and  addressed 
themselves  to  the  huge  task  of  reestablishing  their  fractured  society. 
Though  songs  about  the  exile  experience  do  not  seem  to  have  survived, 
the  upheaval  would  have  an  affect  on  their  music.  The  sufferings  they 
had  endured  endowed  their  songs  with  a  preoccupation  with  death, 
loneliness  and  lost  love  and  their  instrumental  music  with  a  mournful 
quality. 

In  Louisiana,  the  Acadians  continued  to  sing  the  old  songs  and 
they  created  new  ones.  Their  self-imposed  isolation  in  the  bayous  and 
southern  prairies  did  not  preclude  selective  contact  with  other 
cultures,  when  they  needed  or  wanted  to  learn  something  from  their 
neighbors.  They  learned  agricultural  techniques,  for  example,  from  the 
local  native  American  Indian  tribes  and  from  the  Alsatian/German 
community  along  the  German  coast,  fishing  techniques  from  the 
Anglo-Americans,  cooking  techniques  from  the  black  slaves.  Even  the 
Spaniards,  generally  believed  to  have  influenced  only  New  Orleans 
architecture  and  the  colonial  political  scene,  contributed  to  the 
civilization  of  the  frontier-minded  Acadians  at  contact  points  like  New 
Iberia  and  especially  through  the  churches.  The  steady  trickle  of 
French  immigrants  in  the  nineteenth  century  brought  some  changes  in 
language  and  customs. 

The  Acadians'  contact  with  these  various  cultures  also  contributed 
to  the  development  of  new  musical  styles  and  repertoire.  From  the 


182 


Indians,  they  apparently  learned  a  terraced  singing  style  and  nev  dance 
rhythms;  from  the  blacks,  they  learned  the  blues,  percussion 
techniques,  a  love  of  sycopation  and  improvisation  singing;  from  the 
Spanish,  they  may  have  learned  a  fev  tunes,  including  the  melody  to 
"J'ai  passe  devant  ta  porte'  (used  in  a  concerto  for  classical  guitar 
by  the  eighteenth-century  composer  Fernando  Sors).  Refugees  and  their 
slaves  vho  arrived  from  Saint  Domingue  at  the  turn  of  the  nineteenth 
century  reinforced  the  African  influence  vith  a  syncopated  West  Indian 
beat.  The  Jewish  German  immigrants  began  importing  diatonic  accordions 
(invented  in  Vienna  in  1828)  vhen  Acadians  and  blacks  became  interested 
in  the  instruments  tovard  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century.  They 
blended  these  elements  to  create  a  nev  music  just  as  they  vere 
synthesizing  the  same  cultures  to  create  Cajun  society. 

From  the  Anglo-American  immigrants  vho  arrived  in  increasing 
numbers  throughout  the  late  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries,  they 
vere  to  learn  much  including  nev  fiddle  tunes  like  Virginia  reels, 
square  dances  and  hoedovns,  along  vith  a  fev  nev  ballads  some  of  vhich 
they  translated  into  French.  A  remarkable  example  of  this  is  "J'ai 
marie  un  ouvrier. ■  a  Louisiana  French  version  of  the  English  ballad, 
"James  Harris"  or  the  "The  Demon  Lover, ■  sometimes  knovn  as  "The 
Carpenter's  Wife"  (Child  243).  In  Louisiana,  an  ouvrier  is  not  a 
general  laborer,  as  in  France,  but  specifically  a  carpenter.  In  this 
version  a  veil-bred  young  vife,  bored  vith  her  carpenter  husband,  is 
svept  avay  by  a  sailor.  When  he  brings  her  to  the  port  city,  she  learns 
that  she  is  to  sail  vith  him.  She  then  realizes  that  she  vill  never 
return  to  the  family  she  has  abondoned.  The  yellov  silk  dress  he  offers 


I83 


her  in  consolation  is  mentioned  in  Scottish  versions  of  the  ballad. 

Although  it  is  tempting  to  explore  the  connection  betveen  Breton  France 

and  Celtic  England,  it  is  more  likely  that  his  Louisiana  French  variant 

was  translated  from  American  sources.  Though  many  early  British  and 

Scottish  versions  describe  the  coast  in  question  as  the  "banks  of 

Italy, "  an  American  version  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1858  mentions 

"the  banks  of  the  Old  Tennessee, "  as  does  the  Louisiana  French 

version: 

J'ai  marie  un  ouvrier,  moi  qui  etait  si  vaillante  fille. 

Mais  c'etait  de  re 'en  dispenser  sans  attraper  des  reproches. * 

"Mais  quitte  ton  ouvrier.  et  viens  t'en  done,  e'est  avec  moi. 

0  viens  t'en  done,  e'est  avec  moi.  dessus  l'ecore  du 

Tennessee."   "Dessus  l'ecore  du  Tennessee,  quoi-ce  t'aurais 

pour  m'entretenir? 

Quoi-ce  t'aurais  pour  m'entretenir  dessus  l'ecore  du 

Tennessee?"  J 'en  ai  de  ces  qros  navires  qui  naviquent  dessus 

l'eau 

Et  sol-disant  pour  t'opposer  de  travailler. '   Au  bout  de 

trois  lours,  trois  lours  et  trois  semaines.   0  la  belle  se 

mit  a  pleurer  1' ennui  de  sa  famille.   'Ne  pleure  done  pas  la 

belle.  je  t'acheteral  une  robe  de  soie  jaune 

Qu'elle  soit  mais  la  couleur  de  l'or  et  de  l'arqent. *   "Je  ne 

pleure  non  pas  ton  or.  ni  ton  or  ni  ton  argent. 

Mais  je  pleure  ma  famille  que  j'ai  laisse  la-bas. "   "Je  t'ai 

pas  tou jours  dit,  la  belle,  et  quand  ce  batiroent  calerait. 

0  il  aurait  une  carlet  a  plus  jamais  resourdre.   'Dessus 

l'ecore  du  Tennessee,  t'embrasserais  ton  cher  et  petit  bebe. 

0  tu  l'embrasserais  a  plus  jamais  revoir. ' 

(As  sung  by  Lanese  Vincent  and  Sidney  Richard,  Kaplan,  1934;  AFS 

27bl) 


At  the  turn  of  the  century,  Cajun  music  entered  a  highly  creative 
period,  which  among  other  things  combined  song  and  instrumental  music 
in  he  same  performance.  There  was  a  tendency  in  European  tradition  to 
keep  songs  and  instrumental  music  separate.  Dance  music  was  almost 
exclusively  instrumental  except  for  danse  rondes  which  were  sung  with 


184 


no  instrumental  accompaniment.  European  song  tradition  tended  to  be 
textually  oriented.  Ballads  and  folksongs  were  traditionally 
unaccompanied  and  sung  for  their  content.  In  African  tradition,  music, 
singing  and  dancing  vere  all  inextricably  related,  and  this  may  have 
Influenced  the  combination  of  singing  and  instrumental  traditions  in 
the  nineteenth  century,  not  only  in  Louisiana,  but  throughout  the 
American  melting  pot.  The  result  of  this  process  in  Cajun  music  vas  the 
development  of  nev  songs  vhich  combined  the  tvo  traditions. 
Instrumental  parts  vere  added  to  old  ballads  and  vords  vere  composed 
for  fiddle  tunes.  And  both  contributed  to  a  vide  nev  repertoire  of 
music  for  dancing. 

In  this  formative  period,  some  of  the  most  influential  musicians 
vere  the  black  Creoles  vho  brought  a  strong,  rural  blues  element  into 
Cajun  music.  Musicians  such  as  Adam  Fontenot  and  Amede  Ardoin  developed 
nev  vays  of  making  music  vith  the  nevly  acquired  accordion.  Ardoin 's 
innovative,  syncopated  style  made  him  a  favorite  at  both  black  and 
vhite  dances,  but  it  vas  his  powerful  and  highly  creative  singing  that 
attracted  the  attention  of  early  recording  scouts.  He  vas  among  the 
first  of  a  group  of  Louisiana  French  musicians  to  record,  immediately 
following  Joe  Falcon's  pioneering  "Allons  a  Lafayette"  in  1928.  These 
early  recordings,  vhich  the  black  Creole  singer  and  accordionist  made 
vith  vhite  Cajun  fiddler  Dennis  McGee,  vere  immensely  popular  and 
influential.  In  the  1930s,  his  style  became  increasingly  introspective. 
Because  he  recorded  alone  in  this  later  period,  his  creative  genius  vas 
unbridled  and  he  composed  songs  vhich  quickly  became  part  of  the 
classical  Cajun  music  repertoire.  His  percussive  accordion  style  also 


I85 


influenced  the  parallel  development  of  zarico  music,  later  refined  by 

contemporary  zarico  musicians  like  Clifton  Chenier.  Some  of  Ardoin's 

most  important  compositions  include  the  "Eunice  Two-step"  (today  called 

"Jolie  Catin"). 

"La  Valse  a  Abe'  ("La  Valse  de  quatre-vinqt-dix-neuf  ans"), 

'Tante  Aline"  ("Chere  Alice"),  "Blues  de  la  prison" 

( "Two-step  de  la  prison"),  'La  Valse  a  Austin  Ardoin'  ("La 

Valse  de  l'orphelin"),  and  "Madame  Atchen"  ("La  Robe 

barree" ) : 

Malheureuse,  quoi  t'as  fait,  oui  avec  moi? 

Tu  me  fais  du  mal  chaque  fois  je  te  reqarde.  malheureuse. 

Quoi  t'as  dit,  roais  chere  Joline,  tu  me  fais  de  mal.   Quoi 

faire  t'as  fait,  mais  tout  ca  t'as  fait  si  long  avec  moi? 

Je  vas  m'en  aller.  je  vas  m'en  aller.  mais  dans  la  mal son. Je 

vas  m'en  aller.  mais  dans  la  reaison  sans  toi.  Jouline. 

Malheureuse,  reqardez  done,  mais  quoi  t'as  fait  a  ton  petit 

coeur. 

J'ai  pas  pu  juqer  ton  histoire  rapport  a  toi. Ta  bonne 

histoire  est  aussi  bonne  que  tes  bonnes  paroles. 

Ca  tu  m'as  dit.  toi,  Jouline,  ca  w'a  fait  du  mal.   Chere 

Jouline,  je  suis  pas  s~r  d'etre  capable  de  m'en  aller. 

C'est  pour  rester  pour  esperer  que  tu  t'en  reviens.   0 

Jouline.  comment  Je  vas  faire,  tu  me  fais  du  mal. Je  suis 

content  pour  toi.  Jouline.  toi.  mon  cher  petit  monde. 

T'aurais  pas  du  de  me  dire  ca.  mais  loll  coeur.   Pis  ton 

idee.  je  suis  pas  comme  ca.  toi.  malheureuse.   Chaque  fois  je 

dis.  oui.  je  vas  rentourner,  mais  a  la  maison. Mon  coeur  fait 

mal  juste  pour  assez  pour  moi  pleurer. 

(From  Amede  Ardoin:  Louisiana  Creole  Music  ,  Old  Timey  Records) 


In  the  early  part  of  the  twentieth  century,  commercial  recording 
companies  like  RCA  Victor,  Bluebird,  Decca,  Columbia,  and  Okeh  began 
recording  ethnic  and  regional  music  throughout  America,  not  out  of  an 
altruistic  sense  of  cultural  preservation  but  out  of  a  straightforward 
desire  to  make  money.  Very  simply,  these  companies  realized  that 
members  of  ethnic  communities  across  the  country  would  only  be  tempted 
to  buy  their  record  players  if  there  was  music  they  wanted  to  hear  on 
record.  In  South  Louisiana,  this  effort  captured  the  end  of  this 


186 


formative  period  in  the  development  of  Cajun  music.  It  also  helped  to 

fix  these  early  texts.  Although  the  singers  usually  improvised  lyrics 

vith  each  performance,  these  recordings  sounded  the  same  each  time  they 

were  played.  Consequently,  they  often  became  considered  the  standard 

versions. 

Many  of  the  first  songs  recorded  vere  based  on  earlier  tunes,  but 

vere  themselves  brand  nev  adaptations.  The  first  record  to  be  released 

included  Joe  and  Cleoma  Falcon's  'Allons  a  Lafayette*  and  "La  Valse  qui 

■'a  porte  en  terre. ■  "Allons  a  Lafayette,  a  tvo-step,  was  typical  of 

the  changes  of  the  times,  being  a  relatively  nev  song  adapted  from  an 

older  tune,  "Jeunes  gens  de  la  campaqne. ■ 

Allons  a  Lafayette,  mais  pour  changer  ton  nom. 

On  va  t'appeler  Madame,  Madame  Canaille  Comeaux/comme  moi. 

Petite,  t'es  trop  miqnonne  pour  faire  ta  criminelle. 

Comment  tu  crois.  mais  mo,  1e  peux  faire.  mais  moi  tout  seul. 

Mais  toi,  mais  loll  coeur.  reqarde  done  mais  quoi  fas  fait. 

Si  loin  que  moi,  1e  suis  de  toi.  mais  ca.  ca  me  fait 

Piti*. 

(As  sung  by  Joseph  Falcon,   Louisiana  Cajun  Music  ,  vol.  I,  Old 
Timey  Records) 

Fiddlers  such  as  Dennis  McGee  and  Sady  Courville,  Ernest  Fruge,  the 
Connors,  the  Aguillards,  and  the  Walkers  still  composed  tunes,  but  the 
accordion  was  rapidly  becoming  the  mainstay  of  traditional  dance  bands. 
Limited  in  notes  and  keys,  it  simplified  Cajun  music  as  songs  that  it 
could  not  play  tended  to  fade  from  the  scene.  Fiddlers  vere  often 
relegated  to  playing  a  duet  accompaniment  or  a  percussive  second  line 
belov  the  dominant  accordion's  melody  lead.  The  traditional 
instrumentation  of  the  classic  Cajun  music  group  came  to  be  the 


187 


accordion,  the  fiddle,  and  the  guitar,  vith  sometimes  a  percussionist 
playing  a  triangle  or  some  improvised  instrumental  noisemakers  like 
spoons,  bottles  or  a  corrugated  washboard. 

Until  the  turn  of  the  twentieth  century,  there  vas  a  wide  variety  of 
dance  styles  which  included  old  world  waltzes,  contredanses,  varsoviennes, 
polkas,  mazurkas,  and  cotillions,  as  well  as  two-steps,  one-steps, 
baisse-bas,  la-las,  and  breakdowns  developed  to  accompany  the  contemporary 
musical  styles.  The  simplification  of  musical  styles  brought  on  in  part  by 
modernization  and  the  accordion  simplified  dance  styles  as  well,  leaving 
the  waltz  and  the  two-step  as  the  major  steps. 

During  this  period,  new  songs  were  composed  often  utilizing  very 

ancient  themes  from  French  and  African  traditions.  *Les  Barres  de  la 

prison. *  Kenry  Fontenot's  classic  blues  waltz  based  on  Douglas  Bellard's 

original  recording  of  "La  Valse  de  la  prison. ■  for  example,  is  a 

traditional  gallows  blues  lament  or  prisoner's  farewell  which  recalls  the 

old  French  "Chanson  de  Mandrin.  ■ 

Goodbye,  chere  vieille  mam. 

Goodbye,  pauvre  vieux  pap. 

Goodbye  a  mes  freres 

Et  mes  cheres  petites  soeurs. 

Hoi,  ,1'ai  ete  condamne 

Pour  la  balance  de  ma  vie 

Dans  les  barres  de  la  prison.   Hoi.  1'ai  roule. 

Je  m'ai  mis  a  malfaire.   J'avais  la  tete  dure. 

J'ai  rentre  dans  le  tracas. 

Asteur  je  suls  condamne 

Pour  la  balance  de  ma  vie 

Dans  les  barres  de  la  prison.   Ma  pauvre  vieille  maman. 

Elle  s'a  mis  sur  ses  qenoux. 

Les  deux  mains  sur  la  tete. 

En  pleurant  pour  moi. 

Elle  dit.  "Mmmmmmmmmm,  Cher  petit  qarcon,  Hoi.  1e  vas  jamais  te 

revoir. 

Tol,  fas  ete  condamne 


188 


Pour  la  balance  de  ta  vie 

Dans  les  barres  de  la  prison.*   J'ai  dit.  "Chere  vlellle 

maman, 

Pleure  pas  pour  moi. 

II  faut  tu  pries  pour  ton  enfant 

Pour  essayer  de  sauver  son  6roe 

De  les  flammes  de  l'enfer. ' 

(On  Bois  sec  ,  Helodeon  Records)   In  1934,  Lomax  had  recorded 

several  unaccompanied  ballads  vhich  used  this  theme.  Compare  the 

following: 

Tu  vas  souffert,  petite  fille, 

Pour  ca  t'apres  faire.   T' auras  jamais  de  bonheur  dans  ta 

vie.   Qui,  lour  aujourd'hui. 

Ma  chere  vieille  raaman 

Dans  la  porte  de  la  prison. 

Les  deux  mains  sur  la  tete.  chere. 

Pleurant  pour  moi. 

0  ,1'ai  dit.  *Ha  maman. 

Pleure  pas  pour  moi. 

Demande  a  tes  amis  pour  t' aider 

Faire  des  prieres  pour  sauver  won  6me 

De  les  flamroes  de  l'enfer. 

0  voir  aujourd'hui,  voir  aujourd'hui. 

J'ai  fini  de  te  voir  sur  la  terre  du  Bon  Dieu. 

Goodbye,  petite  fille.  goodbye,  petite  fille. 

Pour  tout  mes  lours  et  tout  tes  tiens. 

"J'ai  dit.  'Fais  dire  aujourd'hui 

Que  1'apres  m'en  aller. 

Je  pars,  tu  connais. 

'Pit.  "Won  cher  monde.  oarde-le  voir. * 

(from  'Blues  de  la  prison. ■  Joseph  Jones,  Jennings,  1934;  AFS 

80al)   The  folloving,  a  remarkable  version  of  the  prisoner's  lament 

based  on  a  conversation  betveen  the  prisoner  and  his  mother  and 

grandfather,  utilizes  another  ancient  motif,  the  keys  to  the  cell.  A 

similar  ballad  from  French  Canada,  *Le  Prisonnier  et  la  fille  du 

qelier*  (in  Marius  Barbeau's  Folk  Songs  of  French  Canada  ),  describes 

a  jailer's  daughter  who  falls  in  love  with  a  prisoner  and  steals  the 

prison  keys  to  free   him.  He  refuses  to  leave,  choosing  instead  to 

accept  his  fate  to  be  hanged.  In  this  Louisiana  version,  the  prisoner 


189 


eventually  Is  resigned  to  his  fate  and  makes  arrangements  for  his 

burial. 

Chere  Mam,  o  vlens  me  donner  les  clefs. 

Les  clefs  de  la  prison,  les  clefs  de  la  prison. 

"Baptiste,  comment  tu  veux  1e  te  donne 

Les  clefs  de  la  prison  quand  les  offlclers 

Les  ont  accrochees  dans  le  cou.  les  ont  accrochees  dans  le 

cou. "  Chere  Mam,  lis  vont  venlr  we  chercher. 

Hals  a  neuf  heures  a  solr. 

Mais  oul.  c'est  pour  me  pendre, 

Mais  a  dlx  heures  en  nuit.  mals  a  dlx  heures  en  nult.   Chere 

Mam,  c'est  ca  qui  me  fait  plus  de  peine. 

C'est  de  savoir  ma  roort. 

Aussi  lonqtemps  d'avance.  aussi  lonqtemps  d'avance. 

Grandpere.  mals  qui  s'a  mis  a  qenouxen  s'arrachant  les 

cheveux,  en  s'arrachant  les  cheveux. 

"Baptiste.  comment  fas  pu  quitte. 

Mais  c'est  pour  t'en  aller 

Dans  une  si  qrande  prison?"  Cher  Pap,  comment  tu  voulais  fais 

Quand  les  officiers  etaient  tout  le  tour  de  moi 

Avec  le  carabines,  avec  les  carabines?   Chere  Mam,  c'est  ca 

qui  me  fait  plus  de  peine.   C'est  de  savoir  ma  mort 

Aussi  lonqtemps  d'avance.  aussi  lonqtemps  d'avance.   0  Mam, 

lis  vont  venlr  me  chercher, 

Mais  a  neuf  heures  a  soir. 

Mais  oul.  c'est  pour  me  pendre. 

Mais  a  dlx  heures  en  nuit.  mals  a  dix  heures  en  nuit.   Chere 

Mam,  oui.  1e  veux  c'est  toi  qui  m'emmenes. 

Mals  oui.  mon  corps  en  terre 

Avec  mon  beau  cheval  cannel 

Et  ma  belle  voiture  noire  avec  les  quatre  roues  rouges, 

avec  les  quatres  roues  rouges. 

(Sung  by  Elita  Hoffpauir,  New  Iberia,  1934;  AFS  31a2)   This  theme 

of  the  prisoner's  farewell  has  recurred  in  many  songs  of  the  Cajun 

repertoire,  including  Amede  Ardoin's  and  Austin  Pitre's  versions  of 

"Les  Blues  de  la  prison"  and  the  ubiquitous  "Les  flammes 

d'enfer. ■ 


Musicians  continued  to  enlarge  the  repertoire,  recording  recently 
developed  songs  into  the  mid-1930s.  By  the  time  record  companies  began 
recording  Cajun  music,  much  of  what  could  now  be  called  the  core 


190 


repertoire  already  existed.  'Jolie  Blonde"  was  first  recorded  in  1928 

by  Joe  Falcon's  brothers-in-law,  Amede,  Ophe  and  Cleopha  Breaux.  The 

principal  elements  of  this  classic  Cajun  valtz  are  already  evident  in 

this  early  version.  The  instrumentation  vas  to  become  standard: 

accordion  lead,  fiddle  and  guitar  accompaniment  and  a  high-pitched 

singing  style.  The  theme  of  unfaithfulness  and  lost  love  are  also 

present: 

Jolie  blonde,  reqardez  done  quoi  t'as  fait. 

Tu  m'as  quitte  pour  t'en  aller. 

Pour  t'en  aller  avec  un  autre,  oui,  que  moi,  Quel  espoir  et 

quel  avenir,  mais.  moi,  Je  vas  avoir?   Jolie  blonde,  tu  m'as 

laisse,  moi  tout  seul, 

Pour  t'en  aller  chez  ta  famille. 

Si  t'aurais  pas  ecoute  tout  les  conseils  des  autres 

Tu  serais  ici-t-avec  moi  aujourd'hui.   Jolie  blonde,  tu 

croyais  il  y  avait  juste  toi, II  y  a  pas  juste  toi  dans  le  pays 

pour  moi  aimer. 

Si  je  peux  trouver  juste  une  autre,  jolie  blonde, 

Bon  Dieu  sait.  moi.  j'ai  un  tas. 

(From  Louisiana  Cajun  Music  ,  vol.  V,  Old  Timey  Records) 


Hayus  Lafleur  and  Leo  Soileau  recorded  'He  Warn, ■  and  'La  Valse 
Criminelle*  before  Lafleur 's  untimely  death  in  1929.  Dennis  McGee 
Hecorded  reels,  breakdowns  and  bluesy  waltzes  with  his  brother-in-law 
Sady  Courville  that  same  year.  He  also  recorded  several  sides  with 
Amede  Ardoin,  flying  directly  in  the  face  of  the  strict  segregationist 
codes  of  the  times.  Musicians  who  would  be  important  later  in  the 
revival  of  Cajun  music  after  World  War  II  were  already  active.  Lawrence 
Walker  recorded  several  sides  with  his  father  and  uncle  as  the  Walker 
Brothers.  Hathan  Abshire  was  already  experimenting  with  his  combination 
of  Cajun  and  blues  traditions.  Angelas  Lejeune  recorded  "La  Valse  de  la 
Pointe  Noire'  (later  known  as  the  "Kaplan  Waltz')  and  'Bayou  Pom-Pom' 


191 


as  early  as  1930.  The  recordings  of  these  and  others  like  Noise  Robin, 
the  Segura  Brothers  and  Blind  Uncle  Gaspard  vere  regional  successes  as 
Cajuns  began  to  acquire  record  players. 

The  advent  of  the  radio  further  enhanced  the  popularity  of  certain 
performers  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  have  access  to  the  broadcast 
media.  Like  the  phonograph  player,  radio,  which  broadcast  records  and 
live  performances,  lent  importance  to  the  most  popular  trends.  It  also 
introduced  into  South  Louisiana  music  from  the  music  centers  emerging 
in  Nashville,  Hew  York  and  the  West  Coast. 

The  early  surge  of  musical  creativity  carried  over  into  this  new 
period  as  Cajun  performers  adapted  tunes  they  heard  on  the  radio. 
Joseph  and  Oleoma  Falcon's  "Lee  Filles  a  'n  oncle  Helaire"  was  a  spicy 
sycopated  tune  with  a  Caribbean-inspired  beat.  Some  performers 
translated  popular  country  hits  into  French  or  composed  new  words  to 
popular  tunes  to  produce  new  songs  for  the  repertoire.  Joe  and  Oleoma 
soon  began  including  their  own  French  translations  of  American  popular 
tunes  like  the  Carter  Family's  "I'm  Thinking  Tonight  of  My  Blues  Eyes" 
and  "Lu  Lu's  Back  in  Town:'  Tu  peux  dire. . .  (words)  Leo  Soileau,  who 
accompanied  Mayus  Lafleur  on  the  second  Cajun  record  to  be  released 
formed  one  of  the  first  string  bands  as  the  accordion  began  to  lose 
favor  during  the  1930s.  His  Three  Aces  recorded  early  country  and  swing 
tunes,  some  translated,  some  not.  His  "Dans  ton  coeur  tu  aimes  un 
autre*  was  a  thinly  disguised  translation  of  the  traditional  "Columbus 
Stockade  Blues, "  "Personne  m'aime  pas'  is  a  French  takeoff  on  "Hobody's 
Darling  But  Mine. "    Nathan  Abshire  was  another  who  adapted 
Anglo-American  to  produce  new  songs  for  the  Cajun  repertoire.  His  'Hon 


192 


coeur  roe  fait  mal, "  for  example,  vas  a  simplified  translation  of  "I 
Don't  Hurt  Anymore, "  and  his  classic  valtz  "La  Valse  de  Belisaire"  was 
based  on  Roy  Acuff 's  "A  Precious  Jevel. ■ 

By  the  mid-1930s,  Cajuns  were  reluctantly,  though  inevitably, 
becoming  Americanized.  America,  caught  in  the  "melting  pot"  ideology, 
tried  to  homogenize  its  diverse  ethnic  and  cultural  elements.  At  the 
national  level,  America  had  fought  in  a  major  var  vhich  for  the  first 
time  divided  most  of  the  vorld  into  camps.  National  leaders  like  Teddy 
Roosevelt  felt  that  there  vas  a  danger  that  this  country,  vhich  vas 
built  of  people  from  all  over  the  vorld,  might  blov  apart  itself. 
Roosevelt  insisted  that  there  vas  no  such  thing  as  a  "hyphenated 
American"  and  urged  members  of  various  ethnic  and  national  groups  to 
conform  to  America  or  to  leave  it. 

Part  of  this  conformity  included  learning  English,  for  Roosevelt 
insisted  that  there  vas  "room  for  but  one  language  in  this  country  and 
that  is  the  English  language,  for  ve  must  assure  that  the  crucible 
produces  Americans  and  not  some  random  dwellers  in  a  polyglot 
boardinghouse.  "  The  French  language,  native  to  the  Cajuns  and  their 
music,  vas  banned  from  schools  thoughout  South  Louisiana  as  a  result  of 
state  board  of  education  policy  in  1916.  This  action  vas  confirmed  by 
the  nev  state 

constitution  of  1921  vhich  stripped  the  French  language  of  its  historical 
official  status.  Speaking  French  vas  not'  only  against  the  rules,  it  became 
increasingly  unpopular  as  Cajuns  attempted  to  escape  the  stigma  attached  to 
their  culture. 

In  the  1930s  the  efforts  of  another  Roosevelt  to  ease  the  national 


193 


pain  of  Great  Depression  brought  more  changes  to  South  Louisiana.  Work 
projects  brought  a  generation  of  young  Cajuns  out  into  the  rest  of  America. 
A  new  money-based  economy  brought  the  Cajuns  into  the  marketplace  where 
they  needed  to  speak  English  to  do  business  vith  America.  The  nev  highways 
and  bridges  built  by  Huey  Long  and  improved  transportation  opened 
previously  isolated  areas  to  the  rest  of  the  country.  Money  from  the 
budding  oil  industry  brought  the  sons  of  sharecroppers  off  the  farm  and 
into  the  industrial  workplace.  With  regular  paychecks  for  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  their  families,  many  Cajuns  were  able  to  afford  modern 
conveniences  like  refrigerators  and  radios  which  diminished  the  need  for 
traditional  gatherings  like  boucheries  and  house  dances.  They  bought 
automobiles  which  allowed  them  to  extend  their  sphere  of  activity. 

The  Cajuns  had  always  learned  from  their  neighbors  and  their  neighbors 
had  always  learned  from  them.  Now,  however,  the  immigration  of 
Anglo-American  outsiders  to  Cajun  country  was  too  much  too  fast.  These 
newcomers  were  no  longer  motivated  to  learn  the  native  language  and  the 
culture  of  the  land.  At  the  same  time,  the  Cajuns  understanding  of  the 
world  was  greatly  enlarged  and  they  began  to  understand  that  they  should 
learn  the  ways  of  the  land,  in  the  larger  context  of  America.  The 
Americanization  of  the  Cajuns  was  finally  underway  in  earnest. 


194 


These  social  and  cultural  changes  of  the  1930s  and  1940s  were 
clearly  reflected  in  the  recorded  music  of  the  period.  The  slick 
programming  on  the  radio  and  later  television  inadvertently  undermined 
the  comparatively  unpolished  traditional  sounds  and  forced  them 
underground.  The  previously  dominant  accordion,  for  example,  faded 
completely  from  the  popular  scene,  partly  because  the  old  style  music 
had  lost  popularity  and  partly  because  the  instruments,  hitherto 
manufactured  in  Germany,  vere  unavailable. 

As  the  western  swing  and  bluegrass  sounds  from  Texas  and  Tennessee 

swept  the  country,  string  bands  which  imitated  the  music  of  Bob  Wills 

and  the  Texas  Playboys  and  copied  Bill  Monroe's  high  lonesome  sound 

sprouted  across  South  Louisiana.  Among  the  early  leaders  in  this  new 

trend  were  the  Hackberry  Ramblers  (with  Luderin  Darbonne  on  fiddle)  who 

recorded  new,  lilting  versions  of  what  had  begun  to  emerge  as  the 

classic  Cajun  repertoire,  such  as  ■Jolie  Blonde. ■  They  also  performed 

new  compositions  such  as  'Line  piastre  lei,  une  piastre  la-bas.  a  song 

which  shows  what  it  means  to  live  in  a  money-based  economy  caught  in 

the  throes  of  the  Great  Depression: 

Quand  j'ai  eu  vingt  et  un  ans 
Hon  pere  ro'a  dit  que  1'etais  dedans. 
"C'est  l'heure  que  t'arretes  de  depenser 
Une  piastre  ici.  une  piastre  la-bas. * 

(From  "Une  piastre  ici.  une  piastre  la-bas. '  as  performed  by  the 

Hackberry  Ramblers,   Louisiana  Cajun  Music  ,  vol.  Ill,  Old  Timey 

Records) 

Freed  from  the  limitations  imposed  by  the  accordion,  string  bands 
readily  absorbed  various  outside  influences.  Darbonne 's  Ramblers  were 


195 


the  first  to  use  electrical  amplification  systems.  Dancers  across  South 
Louisiana  were  shocked  in  the  nid-1930s  to  hear  music  vhich  came  not 
only  from  the  bandstand,  but  also  frca  the  opposite  end  of  the  dance 
hall  through  speakers.  In  places  not  yet  reached  by  the  rural 
eletrification  project  (REA),  these  early  sound  systems  were  povered 
only  by  a  model  T  idling  behind  the  building.  The  electric  steel  guitar 
eventually  replaced  the  acoustic  dobro  or  National  steel  guitar,  and 
trap  drums  vere  added  to  the  standard  Instrumentation  as  Cajuns 
continued  to  experiment  vith  nev  sounds  borrowed  from  Anglo-American 
musicians. 

An  important  stylistic  change  occured  in  the  fiddle  music  component 
of  Cajun  music.  Amplification  made  it  unnecessary  for  fiddlers  to  bear 
dovn  vith  the  bov  in  order  to  be  heard,  so  many  of  them  developed  a 
lighter,  lilting  touch,  producing  an  airier,  almost  glib  sound  vhich 
vas  very  different  from  the  intense,  mournful  earlier  styles.  Cajun 
fiddlers  vere  also  greatly  influenced  by  Anglo-American  string  bands 
and  they  began  to  include  bits  of  the  repertoire  of  those  groups  in 
their  performances,  including  songs  like  'The  Maiden's  Prayer"  and 
■The  Ranger's  Waltz,"  lively  fancy  fiddling  tunes  like  "Ragtime  Annie" 
and  "Dovn  South, ■  and  popular  radio  tunes  like  "If  You  Don't  See  Your 
Mama  Every  Night"  and  "Kentucky"  (Performed  by  Varise  Connor  and  Lionel 
Leleux,  collection  of  Barry  Jean  Ancelet,  USL/FA)     Undoubtedly  the 
most  popular  Cajun  musician  of  his  day,  Harry  Choates  vas  born  near 
Rayne,  Acadia  parish,  but  like  so  many  of  his  countrymen,  he  moved  to 
East  Texas  vith  his  family  to  work  in  the  ship  building  and  oil  boom  of 
the  1940s,  this  move  greatly  influenced  his  music.  In  songs  such  as  the 


196 


■Austin  Special, ■  "Grand  Texas. ■  and  the  "Port  Arthur  Blues, ■  he  helped 

to  develop  the  "tu  m'as  quitte  pour  t'en  aller  au  Grand  Texas'  theme 

vhich  vas  to  become  ubiquitous  in  modern  Cajun  music.  Choates  also 

sprinkled  his  songs  like  "Louisiana  Boogie"  vith  English  terms  to  reach 

a  larger  audience: 

Tu  m'as  quitte  pour  t'en  aller.  Pour  t'en  aller.  mals  chere. 

si  loin, 

C'est  pour  faire  le  boogie-woogie. 

Faire  le  boogie-woogie. 

Apres  faire  le  boogie-woogie. 

Je  connais  ca  sera  pas  pour  longtemps.   Tu 

honky-tonk  ici,  tu  honky-tonk  la-bas. 
Tu  honky-tonk,  tu  honky-tonk,  tu  honky-tonk  tout  le  temps. 
T'es  apres  faire  le  boogie-woogie. 
Apres  faire  le  boogie-woogie 

Apres  faire  le  boogie-woogie. Je  connais  ca  sera  pas  pour 
longtemps. 

(From  Harry  Choates  ,  Arhoolie  Records;  reissues  of  older  78s) 


His  popularity  carried  him  as  far  west  as  Austin,  in  the  heart  of 
Anglo-Texas,  on  regular  weekend  dance  jobs.  His  simplified 
interpretations  of  older  Cajun  standards  like  "Jolie  Blonde"  and 
'Pauvre  Hobo'  were  regional  hits,  even  attracting  some  national 
attention,  and  became  the  standard  versions  performed  by  bands 
throughout  South  Louisiana.  He  also  recorded  many  country  fiddle 
standards  like  "Rubber  Dolly.  " 

Other  bands  recorded  bilingual  songs,  reflecting  a  gradual 
gravitation  toward  the  English  language.  In  1947,  for  example,  a  Cajun 
group  ironically  called  the  Oklahoma  Tornadoes  released  "Dans  la 
prison: " 

* 

Well,  I  left  for  Louisiana  about  a  year  ago, 
Going  to  Texas,  travelling  vith  a  show. 
I  landed  in  old  Houston  doing  mighty  fine, 


197 


Until  I  met  that  woman,  and  now  I'm  doing  time. 

Dans  la  prison,  la  hell  avec  ca. 

Hoi.  1e  connaig  ca  sera  lonqtemps. 

Dans  la  prison,  la  hell  avec  ca. 

Moi,  1e  m'en  revlens  dans  vinqt-quatre  ana. . . 

(From  Louisiana  Cajun  Music  ,  vol.  IV,  Arhoolie  Records;  reissues 

of  older  78s) 


Darbonne's  group,  which  had  recorded  French  swing  tunes  as  the 
Hackberry  Ramblers,  recorded  English  country  tunes  as  the  Riverside 
Ramblers  (a  name  they  acquired  when  their  radio  show  was  sponsored  by 
Montgomery  Ward's  Riverside  tires).  This  version  of  the  group  featured 
the  singing  of  Joe  Werner  on  regional  hits  such  as  "Wondering"  (which 
predated  Webb  Pierce's  national  hit  by  a  few  years).  The  transition  was 
nearly  complete;  recorded  Cajun  music  showed  increasingly  discomfort 
with  the  French  language  and  traditional  sounds.  Even  Joe  Falcon's  wife 
Oleoma  joined  the  move  away  from  the  roots,  recording  a  version  of 
■Hand  Me  Down  My  Walking  Cane"  in  1947  entirely  in  English. 

By  the  late  1940s,  the  music  recorded  by  commercial  producers 
signalled  an  unmistakable  tendency  toward  Americanization.  Yet,  an 
undercurrent  of  traditional  music  persisted.  The  accordion,  for 
example,   completely  absent  from  popular  recordings  during  this  period, 
was  played   on  back  porches  and  for  family  and  friends  at  house  dances 
and  on  holidays  like  Easter,  Christmas  and  New  Year's  Day.  Older  songs 
were  preserved  in  the  memories  of  those  who  continued  to  hum,  whistle 
and  sing  them  informally.  This  traditional  foundation  would  resurface 
in  the  recordings  of  Iry  Lejeune,  a  young  accordion  player  and  singer 
from  the  Pointe  Noire  area  south  of  Church  Point,  in  Acadia  Parish. 


198 


Greatly  influenced  by  the  earlier  recordings  of  Amede  Ardoin  and  by  the 

music  of  his  ovn  uncles  and  cousins,  among  then  Angelas  and  Steven 

Lejeune,  he  tagged  along  with  Virgil  Bozman's  Oklahoma  Tornadoes  in 

1948  to  record  "La  Valse  du  Pont  d' Amour. "  in  the  intensely  soulful 

turn  of  the  century  style  and  in  French. 

He.  petite  fille. 

Hoi.  1e  me  vois 

Apres  partir 

Mais  m'en  aller  done  te  re.loindre. 

0  chere  petite  fille. 

Quand  me roe  tu  voudrais 

T'en  revenir.  petit  monde. 

Reqarde  done.  1e  veux  plus  te  voir. 

He.  tu  ajag  dit. 

Petite  fille.  criminelle. 

Tu  sals  toi.  tu  voulais  plus 

h"  aimer  malheureuse. 

Tu  connais.  petite  fille. 

Que  moi.  Vai  pris  ca  dur. 

Pris  ca  assez  dur 

Que  moi.  1'ai  pris  les  grands  chemins. . . 

(From  Iry  Lejeune:  The  Greatest  ,  Goldband  Records) 


Skeptics  vondered  at  his  forsaking  current  trends,  but  the 
recording,  an  unexpected  success,  presaged  a  revival  of  the  earlier 
styles.  Iry  Lejeune  became  a  pivotal  figure  in  a  revival  fueled  by  the 
return  of  homesick  GIs  seeking  to  soothe  their  gal  de  pays  in  a  hot, 
cultural  bath.  All  over  the  country,  soldiers  wanted  to  eat  home 
cooking.  In  South  Louisiana  that  meant  rice  and  gravy  and  gumbo,  no 
more  potatoes.  And  they  vanted  to  hear  homemade  music.  In  South 
Louisiana,  that  meant  Cajun  music,  no  more  hit  parade  for  a  while. 
These  soldiers  literally  populated  the  dance  halls  where  they  drank  and 
danced  to  forget  the  horrors  of  the  war.  Dance  halls  which  provided 
traditional  music  flourished,  and  musicians  such  as  Lawrence  Walker, 


199 


Austin  Pitre,  and  Nathan  Abshire  brought  their  abandoned  accordions  out 
of  the  closet  and  once  again  recorded  old-style  Cajun  music.  Local 
recording  companies  picked  up  the  slack  left  by  the  national  producers 
vho  had  turned  exclusively  to  videly  marketable  performers  by  then. 
Though  bearing  the  marks  of  Americanization,  Cajun  music  was  making  a 
dramatic  comeback  just  as  interest  in  the  culture  and  language 
quickened  before  the  1955  Acadian  bicentennial  celebration,  led  by 
politicians  like  Dudley  LeBlanc  and  Roy  Theriot. 

In  the  early  1950s,  many  dance  bands  performed  as  often  as  seven 
and  eight  times  a  veek.  Some  of  these  groups  developed  a  tight, 
veil-orchestrated,  dance  band  style,  keeping  the  successive  eight  or 
sixteen  bar  instrumental  rides  learned  from  sving  and  bluegrass  music. 
(The  typical  pattern  of  instrumental  rides  which  developed  in  Cajun 
music  was:  accordion  lead,  accordion  break,  vocal  lead,  steel  guitar 
shuffle,  fiddle  break,  fiddle  lead,  accordion  break,  accordion  lead. . . ) 
Groups  incorporated  palatable  elements  from  varous  new  styles, 
including  early  rock-and-roll,  to  develop  new  sounds. 

Even  the  names  of  many  of  these  revived  groups  reflected  the 
enduring  influence  of  their  brush  with  Americanization.  Lawrence 
Walker's  group  was  called  the  Wandering  Aces.  Austin  Pitre's  was  the 
Evangeline  Playboys,  after  their  native  Evangeline  Parish.  Nathan 
Abshire  called  his  band  the  Pine  Grove  Boys,  after  their  regional  hit, 
the  "Pine  Grove  Blues. ■ 

Some  began  performing  on  local  radio  stations;  others,  such  as 
Aldus  Roger  and  the  Lafayette  Playboys  and  Happy  Fats  and  the  Marine 
Band,  were  even  featured  on  area  television.  Most  bands  were  composed 


200 


of  musicians  who  made  a  living  from  other  regular  jobs,  but  a  few,  such 
as  Doug  Kershaw,  became  professionals  who  quickly  realized  that  they 
should  perform  in  English  if  they  were  to  attract  an  audience  large 
enough  to  support  them.  Kershav  recycled  older  Cajun  tunes  to  produce 
new  songs  with  English  lyrics,  like  his  "I'm  Not  Strong  Enough,"  which 
is  based  on  "La  Valse  du  barebocheur. "  and  his  "Cajun  Stripper,  a  jazzed 
up  version  of  the  "Bosco  Stomp. "  He  developed  a  small,  national  cult, 
even  appearing  on  the  immensely  popular  "Ed  Sullivan  Shov.  " 

SWAMP  POP 

Svamp  pop  was  a  tempting  alternative  and  Cajun  music  vas  again 
straying  far  afield  from  its  traditional  sources.  Deliberate  efforts 
vould  be  necessary,  in  Devey  Balfa's  words,  "to  water  the  roots  so  that 
the  tree  vould  not  die. "   The  needed  impulse  came  from  the  national 
level.  Alan  Lomax,  a  member  of  the  Newport  Folk  Foundation,  had  become 
interested  in  Cajun  and  Creole  music  while  collecting  traditional  music 
across  the  country  for  the  Library  of  Congress  in  the  1930s.  In  the 
manner  prescribed  by  activist  ethnomusicologist  Charles  Seeger,  Lomax 
sent  "cultural  guided  missiles"  to  document  and  encourage  the 
preservation  of  the  music  during  the  1950s.  Harry  Oster,  a  professor  of 
English  at  Louisiana  State  University  in  Baton  Rouge,  recorded  a 
musical  spectrum  which  ranged  from  unaccompanied  ballads  to 
contemporary  dance  tunes,  especially  in  Evangeline  and  Vermilion 
Parishes.  His  collection,  which  stressed  the  evoluton  of  Cajun  music, 
attracted  the  attention  of  local  activists  like  Paul  Tate  and  Revon 
Reed. 


2D1 


The  work  of  Harry  Oster  and  Alan  Lomax  caught  the  imagination  of 

the  Newport  board,  and  fieldvorkers  Ralph  Rinzler  and  Hike  Seeger  were 

sent  to  find  Cajun  musicians  for  the  festival.  Cajun  dance  bands  had 

played  at  the  National  Folk  Festival  as  early  as  the  1930s  (when 

Lawrence  Walker  accompanied  the  Broussard  family  band  to  the  festival 

in  Dallas),  but  little  echo  of  these  performances  reached  Louisiana. 

Rinzler  and  Seeger,  seeking  the  gutsy  roots  of  Cajun  music,  invited 

Gladius  Thibodeaux,  Louis  "Vinesse"  Lejeune  (a  cousin  of  Iry),  and 

Dewey  Balfa  to  represent  Louisiana  at  the  1964  Newport  Folk  Festival. 

There  alongside  nationally  known  folk  revivalists  like  Joan  Baez, 

Peter,  Paul  and  Hary,  and  Bob  Dylan,  they  performed  the 

turn-of-the-century,  unamplified  music  which  made  the  Louisiana 

cultural  extablishment  uneasy.  These  "unrefined"  sounds  embarassed  the 

upwardly  mobile  "genteel  Acadians"  who  barely  tolerated  the  more 

polished  sounds  of  popular  dance  bands  like  Belton  Richard  and  the 

Kusical  Aces.  They  considered  the   music  chosen  for  Newport  festival 

crude,  "nothing  but  chanky-chank.  "  An  editorial  by  Burton  Grindstaff  in 

the  Opelousas  Daily  World  (October  20,  1965)  unabashedly  illustrated 

this  sentiment: 

"Cajuns  brought  some  mighty  fine  things  down  from  Nova  Scotia 
with  them,  including  their  jolly  selves,  but  their  so-called 
music  is  one  thing  I  wish  they  hadn't. 
•The  first  time  my  sensitive  ears  were  shattered  by  the 
dissonant  squeal  of  a  Cajun  musician  was  in  Eunice  back  in 
1946.  I  was  told  that  an  acquaintance  of  mine,  a  fellow  who 
seemed  to  be  normal  in  other  respects,  was  going  to  play  an 
accordion  "Cajun  style"  at  some  kind  of  local  program.  I  was 
foolish  enough  to  look  forward  to  the  event,  and  even  to  think 
I  might  be  in  on  the  discovery  of  something  great  that  had 
been  hidden  from  the  rest  of  the  country  all  these  years.  I 
broke  through  a  window  after  the  first  stanza,  went  home  and 


202 


doused  my  head  in  a  bucket  of  vater  to  drovn  out  the  sound. ■ 

and  so  on.  He  ended  his  column  vith  a  prediction: 

■I  suppose  there  will  be  no  containing  them  if  they  get  a 
really  bad  needle  on  one  of  those  records  the  Nevport  festival 
people  took  back  vith  them  and  some  of  these  modern  folk  music 
people  get  an  earful. 

"All  ve  can  do  is  sit  back  and  vait  for  the  verdict  from 
Nevport,  scared  stiff.  I  am  not  sure  Cajun  music  is  on  trial 
in  Nevport.  It  may  be  us.  Their  verdict  could  subject  us  to 
tortures  like  the  vorld  has  never  knovn  before. ■ 

This  remarkable  tirade  vas  a  fairly  accurate  assessment  of  the 
opinion  of  a  certain  class  of  Cajuns  and  Creoles.  Despite  Mr. 
Grindstaff's  grim  predictions,  however,  the  Nevport  organizers  vere 
intent  on  shoving  the  beauty  and  impact  of  root  music.  Their  instinct 
proved  veil-founded  as  huge  crovds  gave  the  old-time  music  standing 
ovations.  Tvo  members  of  the  Louisiana  group  vere  simply  impressed.  The 
third  vas  Devey  Balfa,  a  fiddler  and  vocalist  in  a  family  band  called 
The  Musical  Brothers  vho  had  accompanied  Thibodeaux  and  Lejeune  as  a 
last  minute  replacement  on  guitar.  He  vas  so  moved  by  the  experience 
that  he  returned  to  Louisiana  determined  to  bring  the  message  home. 

Devey  began  working  on  a  small  scale,  among  his  friends  and  family 
in  Mamou,  Basile  and  Eunice.  Rinzler,  vho  continued  his  fieldvork 
through  the  1960s,  recognized  Devey 's  budding  activism  and  urged  him 
on.  The  Nevport  Folk  Festival,  under  the  guidance  of  Lomax,  routed 
money  and  fieldvorkers  into  the  area  through  the  nevly  established 
Louisiana  Folk  Foundation.  Financial  support  and  outside  approval 
brought  about  a  gradual  change  on  the  inside.  Local  activists  such  as 
Paul  Tate,  Revon  Reed,  Catherine  and  Edvard  Blanchet,  Milton  and 
Patricia  Rickels  became  involved  in  preserving  the  music,  language,  and 
culture.  Devey  Balfa  did  not  have  the  educational  base  of  these  members 


203 


of  the  foundation,  but  his  innate  command  of  the  material  more  than 
made  up  for  this  difficiency,  and  his  clear  sense  of  mission  made  him 
an  invaluable  member  of  this  task  force. 

With  the  help  of  the  Newport  Folk  Festival  Foundation,  this  group 
organized  traditional  contests  at  local  events  such  as  the  Abbeville 
Dairy  Festival,  the  Opelousas  Yambilee,  and  the  Crovley  Rice  Festival. 
Special  concerts  vere  presented  so  that  people  vould  have  the 
opportunity  to  listen  to  their  music  vithout  the  distractions  of  a 
smoke-filled  dance  hall. 

Eventually  Devey  convinced  Svallov  Records,  a  local  company,  to 
release  a  recording  of  traditional  Cajun  music  alongside  its  more 
modern  listings.  Superbly  performed  ancient  songs  like  "La  Valse  du 
bambocheur"  and  "Parlez-nous  a  boire*  vhich  had  attracted  Rinzler's 
attention  to  the  Balfa  Brothers  sound  as  a  Newport  scout,  also  proved 
popular  among  the  heritage-minded  Cajuns  of  the  late  1960s,  and  led  to 
many  subsequent  albums  on  Svallov  and  other  labels,  including  Arhoolie 
(from  California),  Rounder  (Massachusetts),  Folkways  (Nev  York), 
Expression  Spontanee  (France),  and  Sonet  (England).  Perhaps  Dewey's 
most  important  contribution  was  to  set  the  example  of  look  back  to 
recycle  the  best  of  the  traditional  material.  Soon  other  musicians 
began  searching  through  their  memories  to  revive  old  songs  instead  of 
only  translating  outside  sources  for  nev  material. 

In  1968,  the  state  of  Louisiana  officially  recognized  the  Cajun 
cultural  revival  vhich  had  been  brewing  under  the  leadership  of  certain 
musicians  and  political  leaders  such  as  Dewey  Balfa  and  Dudley  LeBlanc. 
In  that  year,  it  created  the  Council  for  the  Development  of  French  in 


20^ 


Louisiana  (CODOFIL)  vhich,  under  the  chairmanship  of  James  Domengeaux, 
began  its  efforts  on  political,  psychological  and  educational  fronts  to 
erase  the  stigma  Louisianians  had  long  attached  to  the  French  language 
and  culture.  The  creation  of  French  classes  in  elementary  schools  began 
to  reverse  the  policy  vhich  had  barred  the  language  from  the 
schoolgrounds. 

Early  in  the  development  of  CODOFIL 's  political  strategy, 
Domengeaux  had  decided  that  his  efforts  should  be  concentrated  in  the 
classroom,  explaining  that  if  the  language  could  be  saved,  the  rest 
would  follow.  He  quickly  changed  his  approach,  however,  when  he 
realized,  as  he  later  put  it,  "that  language  and  culture  are 
inseparable. *  Influenced  by  Rinzler  and  Balfa,  CODOFIL  organized  a 
first  Tribute  to  Cajun  Music  festival  in  1974  with  a  three-hour 
concert  designed  to  present  an  historical  overview  of  Cajun  music  from 
its  origins  to  modern  styles.  The  echo  of  Newport  had  finally  come 
home.  Dewey  Balfa 's  message  of  cultural  self-esteem  was  heard  by  over 
12, 000  enthusiastic  participants,  and  was  heard  again  and  again  as  the 
festival  subsequently  became  an  annual  celebration  of  Cajun  music  and 
culture. 

Dewey's  message  was  complex  and  aimed  in  many  directions  at  once. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  festival  not  only  provided  exposure  for  the 
musicians  but  presented  them  as  cultural  heroes  and  in  the  same  motion 
made  them  available  to  the  ones  who  needed  them  most.  Many  young 
performers  were  attracted  to  the  revalidated  Cajun  music  scene  and 
became  interested  in  playing  the  music  of  their  fathers  and 
grandfathers.  On  the  other  hand,  local  French  movement  officials 


205 


observing  from  backstage  realized  the  impact  of  the  grassroots  and 
began  to  stress  the  native  Louisiana  French  culture  in  the  revival  of 
French  in  Louisiana. 

Balfa's  dogged  pursuit  of  cultural  recognition  carried  him  further 
than  he  had  ever  expected.  In  1977,  he  received  a  Folk  Artists  in  the 
Schools  grant  from  the  National  Endowment  for  the  Arts  through 
Atlanta's  Southern  Folk  Revival  project  to  bring  his  message  into 
elementary  school  classrooms.  He  became  a  regular  on  the  national  folk 
festival  touring  circuit  along  with  many  other  of  his  colleagues.  Devey 
has  given  workshops  in  such  places  as  the  Smithsonian  Institution  and 
the  Library  of  Congress,  New  York,  New  York,  Port  Townsend,  Washington, 
and  Paris,  France.  In  1982,  Dewey  was  presented  with  the  National 
Heritage  Award  and  in  1986  his  album  Souvenirs  was  nominated  for  a 
Grammy  Award  in  the  Ethnic  Music  category.  In  1987,  despite  his 
protests  that  he  had  little  formal  education,  he  was  finally  convinced 
to  accept  a  temporary  position  to  teach  courses  in  Cajun  music  and 
culture  at  the  University  of  California  at  Fresno. 

Cajun  music  seems  likely  to  live  for  at  least  another  generation. 
The  renewed  creativity  within  the  tradition  (as  opposed  to  the  simple 
imitation  of  outside  styles)  makes  earlier  predictions  of  imminent 
disintegration  seem  hasty.  Recent  compositions  by  musicians  such  as  D. 
L.  Menard,  Belton  Richard  and  Ivy  Dugas  continue  to  enlarge  the  stock 
repertoire  of  contemporary  dance  bands.  Menard's  'La  Porte  d'en 
arriere. "  which  has  already  become  a  aodern  classic,  reiterates  the 
enfant  perdu  theme  encountered  in  *Les  Barres  de  la  prison, "  but  treats 
it  in  a  humorous  vein: 


206 


Moi  et  la  belle,  on  avait  ete-z-au  bal. 

On  a  passe  dans  toug  les  honky  tonka. 

On  s'en  a  revenu  le  lendemain  matin. 

Le  lour  etait  apres  se  casser. 

J'ai  passe  dedans  la  porte  d'en  arriere. 

Apres-midi,  moi,  1'ai  ete-z-au  village 

Et  1e  m'ai  saoule  que  je  pouvais  plus  marcher. 

lis  m'ont  raroene  back  a  la  maison. 

II  y  avalt  de  la  compagnie,  c' etait  du  monde  etranqer. 

J'ai  passe  dedans  la  porte  d'en  arriere. 

Hon  vieux  pere.  un  soir  quand  ,1'ai  arrive. 

II  a  essaye  de  changer  won  idee. 

Je  l'ai  pas  ecoute.  moi.  .1 ' avals  trop  la  tete  dure. 

*Un  jour  a  venir.  roon  neqre.  tu  vas  avoir  du  regret. 

T'ae  passe  dedans  la  porte  d'en  arriere. * 

J'ai  eu  un  tas  d'amis  tant  que  1 'avals  de  1' argent. 

Asteur  1'ai  plus  d' argent,  wai  lis  voulont  plus  me  voir. 

J'ai  ete  dan  le  village  et  woi.  je  ro'ai  is  dans  le  tracas. 

La  loi  m'a  ramasse. 

Moi.  ,1e  suis  parti  dans  la  prison. 

On  va  passer  dedans  la  porte  d'en  arriere. 

(D.  L.  Menard,   D.  L.  Menard,   Svallov  Records) 


On  the  eastern  side  of  the  Atchafalaya  Basin,  the  accordion  vas 
briefly  popular  but  faded  from  the  scene  during  the  1930s  and  1940s  and 
did  not  return  after  World  War  II  as  it  did  on  the  southvestern 
prairies.  There  is  French  music  along  Bayous  Terrebonne  and  Lafourche, 
but  it  is  highly  influenced  by  country  and  rock  sounds.  The  tradition 
of  the  chansonnier  is  especially  strong  in  this  region,  as  heard  in  the 
rich  baritone  songs  of  singers  like  Vin  Bruce  and  L.  J.  Foret.  Many 
songs  are  adapted  from  the  English,  like  Vin  Bruce 's  "La  Priere  de  la 
leune  fille*  ("The  Maiden's  Prayer").  Even  recent  compositions,  like  L. 
J.  Foret' s  'Le  Chemin  des  coeurs  casses*  have  a  distinct  country 
flavor.  Svamp  pop  stars  like  Joe  Barry  and  Gene  Rodrigue  have  also 
provided  a  rock-influenced  sound  for  the  region. 

On  the  prairies,  young  Cajuns,  discovering  local  models  besides 


20? 


country  and  rock  stars,  began  performing  the  music  of  their  heritage. 
Yet  they  did  not  reject  modern  sounds  vhile  adopting  older  ones. 
Michael  Doucet  has  incorporated  jazz  and  classical  music  styles  into 
the  carefully  researched  sound  of  his  group  Beausoleil  in  songs  such  as 
*Les  Barres  de  la  prison*  and  "Contredanse  de  Mamou. "  Zachary  Richard 
brought  country  and  pop  music  trends  into  his  renditions  of  traditional 
music  like  'Travailler.  c'est  trop  dur'  and  'L'Arbre  est  dans  ses 
feuilles'  and  into  his  own  compositions  like  'Marcher  le  plancher'  and 
'Ballade  de  Beausoleil. *  One  of  Richard's  most  important  contributions 
was  the  discovery  of  nev  outlets.  He  found  a  vay  to  support  his  career 
as  a  professional  musician  singing  in  French  by  reaching  out  to  Quebec 
and  France,  where  he  has  had  several  gold  records. 

Young  performers  are  gradually  making  their  presence  known  on  the 
Cajun  music  scene,  replacing  older  musicians  on  the  weekend  dance  hall 
circuit  and  representing  traditional  Cajun  music  at  local  and  national 
festivals.  Some,  like  Wayne  Toups  and  his  ZydeCajun  band,  are 
constantly  innovating  daring  new  sounds  and  styles  from  recombinations 
of  old  and  new  elements.  A  band  called  Mamou  is  even  experimenting  with 
a  combination  of  Cajun  and  rock  without  accordions  and  fiddles.  Others, 
like  Jason  Frey  and  Robert  Jardell,  express  a  strong  interest  in 
reverently  preserving  the  styles  and  repertoires  of  their  mentors.  Yet, 
Even  these  constantly  recharge  past  songs  with  the  vitality  of  the 
present.  Even  some  of  the  most  conservative  elements  in  Cajun  music, 
like  Dewey  Balfa  himself,  understand  that  tradition  is  not  a  product 
but  a  process  and  continue  to  produce  new  songs  from  within  the 
culture.  While  performing  at  the  1985  Smithsonian  Festival  of  American 


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Folklife,  Dewey  surprised  the  audience  by  announcing  that  he  vas  going 
to  play  a  few  new  songs  from  his  Souvenir  album.  He  went  on  to 
explain:   "Cajun  music  is  like  a  tree.  Its  roots  have  to  be  watered  or 
it  will  die.  But  watering  the  roots  is  not  all.  If  a  tree  is  alive,  it 
will  grow,  and  that  growth  is  important,  too.  Host  of  the  songs  I  play 
are  about  a  hundred  years  old.  I'm  interested  in  preserving  Cajun 
music.  I've  dedicated  my  life  to  try  to  assure  that  there  will  be  lots 
of  Cajun  musicians  in  another  hundred  years.  But  that's  not  enough. 
Someone  has  to  provide  them  with  songs  to  play  that  will  be  about  a 
hundred  years  old  then,  so  I've  composed  a  few  that  I  hope  will  still 
be  around  then. "   The  audience  was  relieved  to  hear  that  his  new  songs 
sounded  like  traditional  Cajun  music.  They  sounded  that  way  because 
they  are  traditional. 

Purists  who  would  resist  new  instrumentation  and  styles  neglect  to 
consider  that  change  and  innovation  have  always  been  an  integral  part 
of  Cajun  music.  Those  who  want  to  freeze  the  tradition  at  any  point 
lack  an  historical  perspective  and  share  a  basic  misunderstanding  of 
the  importance  of  improvisation  and  the  creolization  process  in  French 
Louisiana  in  general  and  in  Cajun  music  in  particular.  The  same 
approach  would  have  barred  the  borrowing  of  Anglo-American  ballads  and 
Spanish  tunes  in  the  eighteenth  century,  the  introduction  of  the 
accordion  in  the  nineteenth  century,  the  adding  of  other  instruments  in 
the  1940s  and  1950s,  the  influence  of  the  blues,  the  addition  of  swing 
and  country  sounds  along  the  way.  Today  the  blending  and  cultural 
fusion  at  the  heart  of  the  development  of  Cajun  culture  continue  to  be 
essential  to  its  music. 


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MAKING  INSTRUMENTS  FOR  CAJUN  AND  CREOLE  MUSICIANS 
Barry  Jean  Ancelet  and  Mathe  Allain 

(Note:  parts  of  this  report  are  from  an  article  by  the  author  which 
appeared  in  the  catalog  for  'The  Tools  of  Cajun  Music, ■  exhibit 
presented  by  the  Lafayette  Natural  History  Museum  in  1984.  This 
exhibition  catalog  is  still  available  from  the  Museum  and  may  be  useful 
as  a  booklet  on  this  subject. ) 

Making  music  vith  fiddles  and  accordions,  guitars  and  triangles, 
spoons  and  scrubboards,  Cajun  and  Creole  musicians  have  become  culture 
heroes  as  South  Louisianans  reaffirm  their  pride  in  their  musical 
tradition.  But  the  unsung  heroes  are  the  traditional  instrument  makers 
vho  have  provided  performers  vith  the  tools  of  their  trade, 
particularly  those  vho  plied  their  craft  at  a  time  vhen  store-bought 
instruments  were  either  unavailable  or  prohibitively  expensive.  Many  of 
these  have  become  master  craftsmen  vho  produce  some  of  the  finest 
accordions,  violins,  triangles  and  frottoirs  in  the  vorld,  contributing 
to  the  survival  of  both  the  music  and  its  culture. 

Cajun  music,  as  ve  know  it  today,  is  a  gumbo  of  Spanish,  German, 
Anglo-American,  Scots-Irish,  native  American  and  Afro-Caribbean 
influences,  but  the  basic  roux  vas  western  French  tradition  vhich 
utilized  brass  instruments  like  the  cornet;  reeds  like  the  bombarde: 
variants  of  the  bagpipe  family  like  the  biniou  and  the  cabrette;  and 
stringed  instruments  like  the  violin.  It  is  unlikely  that  the  early 
French  settlers  brought  such  delicate  instruments  to  the  Louisiana 
frontier  or  that  the  Acadians  had  any  in  1765  vhen  they  arrived  in 


211 


Louisiana  after  ten  years  of  wandering.  But,  it  is  said,  the  Nova 
Scotia  exiles  danced  to  reels  a  bouche.  wordless  dance  music  made  by 
their  voices  alone.  By  1780  a  colonial  succession  record  includes  a 
violin,  and  in  1785  a  Spanish  commandant  reports  a  fiddle  and  clarinet 
player  named  Prejean.  Within  a  generation,  musicians,  using  imported 
and  home-made  instruments,  vere  playing  reels,  contredanses,  waltzes 
and  tvo-steps  for  house  parties. 

It  is  often  said  that  the  only  difference  between  a  fiddle  and  a 
violin  is  the  music  played  on  them.  Thus,  Itzak  Perlman's  Stradivarius 
became  a  fiddle  when  he  performed  bluegrass  during  a  recent  television 
special;  conversely,  many  Cajun  fiddlers  use  instruments  which  would  be 
called  violins  in  a  symphony  orchestra.  Some  are  fine  old  Italian, 
German,  or  French  instruments  which  reached  Louisiana  in  the  migrations 
of  American  society.  Others  were  made  in  America  by  artisans  who 
patterned  their  work  on  that  of  European  masters.  Still  others  were 
made  locally  by  craftsmen  for  their  own  use  as  well  as  for  their 
neighbors  and  friends. 

Research  for  an  exhibit  sponsored  by  the  Lafayette  Natural  History 
Museum  in  1984  uncovered  Lousiana  fiddlemakers  as  far  back  as  the 
nineteenth  century.  Some  of  these  were  homemade  imitations.  Some  were 
fine  instruments.  Others  were  harder  to  place.  A  blind  craftsman  from 
the  Marais  Bouleur  region  near  Bosco,  in  St.  Landry  Parish,  is  said  to 
have  made  pre-Cremonan  style  triangular  instruments. 

Fiddlemakers  often  had  to  overcome  great  difficulties  in  the 
pursuit  of  their  craft,  using  pieces  of  broken  bottles  as  scrapers,  for 
example,  until  they  could  acquire  proper  tools.  Young  musicians  who 


212 


could  not  buy  or  borrow  instruments  sometimes  improvised  their  first 
fiddles  from  vooden  cigar  boxes,  using  cypress  slats  from  the  barn  for 
necks  and  bones  for  pegs.  Many  faced  maternal  wrath  for  unravelling 
window  screen  to  make  strings  and  sneaking  thread  from  the  sewing  box 
to  hair  bows  made  of  bent  branches.  Sometimes,  they  even  raided  the 
family  horse  for  a  few  strands  from  its  mane  or  tail.  Wedisson  Reed  of 
Eunice  has  whittled  instruments  from  cypress  planks  and  eventually 
adapted  his  craft  to  include  top  and  back  plates  of  spray-painted 
formica.  Paul  Devillier  of  Arnaudville  used  two-by-fours  for  his  first 
fiddle  and  interior  paneling  for  the  second.  Home-made  instruments  such 
as  these,  born  of  stubborn  desire,  symbolize  the  Cajuns'  passion  for 
making  music. 

The  earliest  known  instrument-quality  violin  maker  was  Emar 
Andrepont  of  Prairie  Ronde  who  made  over  sixty  violins  around  the  turn 
of  this  century,  apparently  patterned  after  the  work  of  I.  Benoit.  One 
of  the  New  Orleans  craftsman's  instruments  was  discovered  in  the 
Andrepont  family  collection.  Andrepont  used  some  rather  unorthodox 
techniques.  For  example,  instead  of  carving  his  back  and  top  plates 
from  a  thick  block,  he  shaped  them  by  soaking  them  in  a  well  and 
bending  them  to  his  pattern.  He  was  a  comfortable  landowner  and 
apparently  made  his  violins  for  pleasure,  not  for  money.  He 
consistently  refused  to  sell  his  instruments,  giving  them  instead  to 
family  members  who  proved  equally  disinterested  in  parting  with  the 
instruments.  They  considered  them  fairliy  heirlooms  and  still  own  the 

■ 

entire  collection. 

Regional  fiddlemakers  have  learned  through  trial  and  error,  books, 


213 


and  contact  vith  other  f iddlemakers  to  produce  instruments  of  excellent 
quality  vith  backs,  ribs,  necks  and  scrolls  of  curly  and  bird's  eye 
maple  imported  from  Germany  and  Czechoslovakia,  tops  of  fine-grained 
European  and  Canadian  spruce,  and  fingerboards  and  pegs  of  African 
ebony.  Some  have  experimented  vith  indigenous  voods;  Lionel  Leleux  has 
carefully  cured  rare  svamp  maple  plates  for  a  series  of  Louisiana 
instruments,  and  Adner  Ortego  uses  an  interesting  collection  of 
salvaged  voods  including  magnolia,  black  gum,  cherry  and  valnut  to 
obtain  a  rich  variety  of  colors  and  grain  patterns.  Slender  rounds  of 
vood--the  best  come  from  the  Pernambuco  district  of  Brazil—are 
fashioned  into  bovs  vhich  are  then  haired  vith  hanks  from  horses' 
manes. 

The  percussion  instruments  used  in  Cajun  and  Creole  music  have 
diverse  historical  and  practical  origins.  Many  were  adapted  from 
anything  that  vould  make  noise  vhen  rubbed  or  struck  together. 
Blacksmiths  produced  petits  fere,  triangles  of  medieval  French 
tradition.  Reshaped  hay  or  rice  rake  tines  made  the  best  instruments. 
The  springy  tempering  of  the  tines  gave  them  their  characteristic  clear 
ringing  sound  vhich  travelled  far  beyond  the  range  of  melodic 
instruments  and  vhich  often  provided  the  only  music  heard  by  dancers  at 
the  back  of  the  dance  hall.  Today,  triangles  are  made  by  dozens  of 
craftsmen,  some  of  vhom  have  perfected  even  these  simple  instruments 
vith  nev  techniques  for  tuning  them  and  preserving  their  temper. 

Percussion  instruments  vere  often  nothing  more  than  ordinary 
household  items  pressed  into  temporary  service  to  make  music. 
Sometimes,  stylized  versions  of  these  later  became  pure  instruments. 


214 


Rasps  and  notched  gourds  used  in  Afro-Caribbean  music  vere  replaced  by 
washboards,  called  frottoirs,  rubbed  with  thimbles,  spoons  or  bottle 
openers.  Later,  tinsmiths  corrugated  sheets  of  metal  to  create  abstract 
frottoirs  far  removed  from  their  washroom  origins.  Carved  cow  bones  and 
bent  soupspoons  also  served  to  keep  rhythm.  These  had  to  be  held  just 
right  in  the  hands  and  consequently  were  difficult  to  play.  This  was 
sometimes  solved  by  enterprising  musicians  who  fixed  the  pieces  into 
the  proper  position  with  screws  or  rivets.  A  #3  tub  became  a  one-string 
bass  with  the  help  of  an  old  broom  handle  and  a  piece  of  baling  twine. 
This  process  required  drilling  a  hole  in  the  bottom  of  the  tub, 
thereafter  rendering  it  useful  only  as  an  instrument.  Young  fiddlers 
learned  bowing  and  fingering  techniques  while  keeping  rhythm  on  an 
older  performer's  strings  with  long  thin  wooden  dowels  called 
fiddlesticks.  Paired  dowels  of  the  perfect  thickness  were  often  put 
aside  as  instruments,  never  to  be  used  as  pegs. 

Introduced  between  1900  and  1920,  the  guitar  was  used  primarily  to 
provide  chords  as  percussive  accompaniment.  Several  of  today's  oldest 
musicians  insist  that  a  black  Creole  named  Steve  was  the  first  guitar 
player  they  remember  seeing  in  the  area.  In  1928,  Cleoma  Falcon  played 
a  National  Steel  guitar  as  her  husband  Joe  played  the  accordion  and 
sang  *Allons  a  Lafayette, ■  the  first  Cajun  record  ever  released.  By 
then,  it  had  become  relatively  easy  to  acquire  instruments  from  mail 
order  catalogs,  though  young  guitar  players  still  improvised 
instruments  with  planks  and  wire  strings.  One  of  the  first  Cajun  guitar 
players,  Warnes  Schexnayer  of  Crowley,  began  making  violins  in  1921.  He 
later  became  interested  in  making  guitars  and  learned  to  enhance  them 


215 


with  inlaid  hand-carved  pieces  of  native  Louisiana  abalone  shells  as 
veil  as  imported  ivory.  Another  guitar-maker,  Harold  Romero  of  Hew 
Iberia,  contributed  to  the  development  of  the  electric  version  of  the 
instrument  and  is  credited  with  several  patents. 

Pedal  steel  guitars,  an  electrified  version  of  the  dobro,  have  come 
to  play  an  important  melodic  role  in  contemporary  dance  bands.  They 
entered  Louisiana  French  music  tradition  during  the  1930s  and  1940s 
vhen  Cajuns  vere  electrifying  their  stringbands  to  play  western  swing. 
These  complex  instruments  were  adapted  but  not  made  here  until  Hilton 
Guilbeau,  a  plumbing  supplier  from  Lafayette,  began  building  pedal 
steels  using  materials  available  to  him  in  his  Coburn  warehouse,  such 
as  chrome  faucet  handles,  conduits  and  shut-off  valves. 

Invented  in  Vienna  in  182S,  the  diatonic  accordion  rapidly  became 
one  of  the  most  popular  folk  instruments  in  the  western  world, 
primarily  because  of  its  durability  and  versatility.  Self-accompanying 
bass  chords  made  it  a  convenient,  and  loud,  one-man  band.  In  the  latter 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  early  versions  of  the  instrument  were 
brought  into  Louisiana  by  German-Jewish  retailers,  such  as  Hervine  Khan 
of  Rayne,  who  obtained  them  from  Hew  York  importers,  such  as 
Buegeleisen  and  Jacobsen.  These  first  imports  were  bulky,  often  with 
several  rows  of  buttons;  their  cheap  tin  reeds  were  set  in  beeswax  and 
difficult  to  keep  in  tune;  their  flimsy  bellows  lost  air  and  tore 
easily.  After  World  War  I,  a  simplified  version  with  a  single  row  of 
buttons  appeared  in  Louisiana.  Though  far  from  perfect,  (wooden  parts 
were  painted  black  to  cover  flaws),  these  greatly  improved  Honarchs, 
Sterlings,  and  later  Eagles  easily  outclassed  earlier  instruments  and 


216 


^ i 


quickly  replaced  them  among  serious  musicians.  They  were  smaller, 
lighter,  and  louder.  These  accordions  dominated  Cajun  bands  by  their 
sheer  volume.  Their  steel  reeds  vere  more  durable  and  easier  to  keep 
tuned,  and  their  sturdier  bellovs  better  able  to  survive  the  syncopated 
exuberance  of  the  times.  Limited  to  a  total  of  twenty  notes  (ten 
pushing  and  ten  pulling)  arranged  on  a  simple  diatonic  scale,  plus  tvo 
pairs  of  accompanying  bass  chords,  they  also  tended  to  simplify 
melodies  and  arrangements. 

In  the  late  1930s,  German  factories  converted  to  var  production  and 
stopped  making  accordions.  In  South  Louisiana,  the  dearth  of  available 
instruments  coincided  vith  social  changes  brought  about  by  the 
Americanization  of  the  local  culture.  Traditional  bands,  formerly  built 
around  the  dominant  accordion  sound,  vere  replaced  by  western  swing 
string  bands  as  Cajuns  and  Creoles  gravitated  toward  Anglo-American 
culture.  After  World  War  II,  however,  returning  GIs  crowded  the  dance 
halls.  Performers  like  Iry  Lejeune,  Nathan  Abshire,  Lawrence  Walker, 
and  Austin  Pitre,  brought  out  their  long-neglected  accordions  to 
satisfy  the  brand  new  demand  for  old-time  music.  Musicians  without 
accordions  needed  instruments.  Post-war  German  accordions  were  so 
inferior  to  Monarchs,  Sterlings  and  Eagles  that  the  older  instruments 
which  had  survived  a  decade  of  neglect  commanded  premium  prices.  The 
few  to  be  found  were  carefully  refurbished  and  jealously  treasured. 
This  small  supply  exhausted,  the  ever-increasing  demand  was  filled  by 
local  craftsmen  who  learned  to  build  new  accordions  by  restoring  old 
ones. 

The  first  of  these  craftsmen,  Sidney  Brown  of  Lake  Charles,  made 


217 


his  instruments  of  ordinary  wood  and  even  masonite,  painting  them  black 
to  copy  the  "little  black  gems"  from  Germany.  Valentin  Lopez,  also  of 
Lake  Charles,  named  his  "Starling"  accordion  in  unabashed  imitation  of 
the  German  Sterling.  The  earliest  Louisiana  accordion  makers  used  the 
bellovs  and  reeds  from  post-war  Hohner  instruments,  limiting  themselves 
to  the  quality  of  the  materials  they  recycled. 

Hare  Savoy  of  Eunice  developed  an  early  passion  for  the  instrument. 
He  restored  a  fev,  began  building  them,  and  realized  that  his 
instruments  could  only  be  as  good  as  his  materials.  He  began  using 
maple  and  other  fine  hardwoods,  eliminating  the  need  for  black  paint. 
The  outward  appearance  of  his  stained  accordions  shook  the  faith  of 
those  who  blindly  trusted  the  "little  black"  German  accordions,  but 
Savoy  waged  war  on  black  paint  and  eventually  succeeded  in  establishing 
natural  finishes  as  the  ideal.  With  tongue  in  cheek,  he  did  eventually 
make  black  accordions,  but  from  polished  African  ebony. 

Yet  for  all  attention  Hare  Savoy's  finishes  received,  these  changes 
were  minor  when  compared  to  those  he  made  on  the  inside  of  the 
instrument.  A  gifted  accordion  player  himself,  he  quickly  realized  that 
he  and  most  of  his  colleagues  easily  outplayed  the  early  versions  of 
his  "Acadian"  accordion.  He  began  importing  better  quality  reeds  and 
bellows  from  Italy  and  eventually  redesigned  the  inside  of  the 
accordion.  His  ingenious  use  of  decibel  meters,  electronic  tuners, 
pressure  gauges,  and  his  mother's  vacuum  cleaner,  led  to  important 
innovations  in  the  basic  design  of  the  diatonic  accordion.  A  company  in 
Italy  has  recently  begun  mass-producing  a  version  of  Savoy's  Acadian 
accordion,  under  licence  from  the  Eunice  craftsman.  Savoy  has  also 


218 


begun  producing  a  double-row  zydeco  accordion  under  his  Acadian 
trademark.   Today  there  are  several  dozen  Louisiana  craftsmen  making 
accordions  which  are  used  not  only  locally  but  vorld-vide,  from 
California  to  Nev  York,  Canada  to  Mexico  and  Europe  to  Austalia.  Their 
trademarks  underscore  their  roots:  Acadian,  Cajun,  Creole,  Evangeline, 
Teche,  Magnolia,  to  name  but  a  fev.  Many  have  followed  Marc  Savoy's 
lead,  experimenting  with  native  hardwoods  and  shell  inlays  to  produce 
instruments  of  beauty  and  quality.  It  is  generally  acknowledged  today 
that  some  of  the  best  diatonic  accordions  in  the  world  are  made  in 
South  Louisiana. 


219 


< 
< 


220 


FROM  GRAND  TEXAS  TO  JAHBALAYA  AND  BACK  AGAIN 
The  Symbiotic  Relationship  between  Cajun  and  American  Music 

Barry  Jean  Ancelet 

Like  jazz,  rock  and  the  blues,  Cajun  music  vas  born  and  raised  in 
America.  French,  Acadian,  Spanish,  German,  Native-American, 
Afro-Caribbean  and  Anglo-American  cultures  steved  together  in  South 
Louisiana's  nineteenth-century  version  of  the  melting  pot  to  produce  a 
new  culture  which  we  now  call  Cajun.  In  the  early  part  of  this  century, 
Teddy  Roosevelt's  colonial  expansionism  and  World  War  I  combined  to 
fuel  the  nationalistic  fervor  which  sought  to  homogenize  this  country. 
Clearly,  South  Louisiana  must  understand  and  accept  its  role  as  a 
minority  in  the  greater  context  of  America.  Some  of  the  obvious 
benefits  were  education,  mobility  and  the  right  to  participate  in  the 
free  enterprise  system.  Unfortunately,  the  Americanization  process 
lacked  a  little  in  subtlety.  In  South  Louisiana,  the  French  language 
was  inadvertently  trampled  in  a  frontal  assault  on  illiteracy.  Those 
who  could  joined  the  headlong  rush  toward  the  language  of  the  future 
and  of  the  marketplace,  becoming  more  American  than  the  Yanks.  The 
black  gold  rush  fueled  an  economic  boom  which  brought  the  Cajuns  out  of 
the  nineteenth  century  just  in  time  for  the  Great  Depression.  All  that 
came  from  the  outside  was  imitated  and  internalized  as  quickly  as 
possible. 

Folklorists  and  ethnomusicologists  have  generally  regarded  the 
Anglo-American  influences  on  Cajun  music  as  symptomatic  of  a  fatal 
illness.  Yet  those  who  predicted  the  ultimate  demise  of  Cajun  music  in 


221 


the  face  of  Americana  during  the  1930s  and  40s,  vhen  country  music  and 
western  sving  replaced  Cajun  music  in  the  dance  halls,  find  themselves 
forced  to  repeat  their  predictions  today  after  the  rocking  50s,  the 
tvisting  60s,  Beatlemania,  reggae,  disco  and  nev  vave.  The  culture  and 
its  music  have  proved  to  be  much  more  complex  and  resilient  than  it  was 
thought  at  first  glance.  Looking  back  with  the  perspective  of  history, 
it  is  clear  that  the  fire  under  the  regional  melting  pot  was  never 
really  turned  off  and  that,  taken  in  moderation,  the  Anglo-American 
influence  was  no  poison,  just  another  ingredient  adding  spice  to  the 
Cajun  music  gumbo. 

In  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries,  Cajun  singers  and 
musicians  heard  the  songs  of  their  Anglo-American  neighbors  and  added 
some  of  them  to  the  repertoire.  In  the  most  ancient  unaccompanied 
tradition,  it  is  difficult  to  tell  which  version  came  first.  In  South 
Louisiana,  the  English  folksong,  "The  Old  Drunk  and  His  Wife, "  is 
called  'Ayou  ce  que  t'es  parti,  mon  bon  vieux  marit* 


Ayou  ce 

crue  t'es 

parti. 

mon  bon  vieux  mari? 

Ayou  ce 

cue  t'es 

parti, 

ca  qu'on  appelle  l'amour? 

Ayou  ce 

que  t'es 

parti, 

mon  bon  vieux  mari, 

Le  roeilleur  buveur  du  pays? 

Je  suis  parti  au  village. 

Quoi-ce  t'es  parti  faire,  mon  bon  vieux  mari? 
Quoi-ce  t'es  parti  faire,  ca  qu'on  appelle  l'amour? 
Quoi-ce  t'es  parti  faire,  mon  bon  vieux  mari, 
Le  roeilleur  buveur  du  pays? 

Je  suls  parti  me  saouler. . . 

(from  "Hon  Bon  Vieux  Mari, ■  as  performed  by  Inez  Catalon,  recorded  by 

Barry  Jean  Ancelet,  1977) 


222 


■A  Paper  (or  Packet)  of  Pins,"  is  called  •Un  papier  d'epingles:" 

Je  te  donnerais  un  papier  d'epingles. 
Si  c'est  comme  ca  que  l'amitie  commence. 
Je  voudrais  me  marier  avec  toi.  toi.  toi. 
Je  voudrais  me  warier  avec  toi. 

J'accepterais  pas  ton  papier  d'epinqles. 
Si  c'est  comme  ca  que  l'amitie  commence. 
Je  veux  pas  me  marier  avec  toi.  toi.  toi. 
Je  veux  pas  me  marier  avec  toi. . . 

<from  'Un  Papier  d'epingles. ■  as  performed  by  Lula  Landry,  recorded  by 
Barry  Jean  Ancelet,  1977) 


In  1934,  Alan  Lomax  recorded  Luneda  Comeaux  of  New  Iberia  singing 
"Charmant  Billy. *  clearly  a  variant  of  "Billy  Boy." 


D'ayou  tu  viens.  Charmant  Billy? 
Billy,  qarcon,  d'ayou  tu  viens. 
Charmant  Billy.  Billy,  qarcon? 

Je  deviens.  oui.  de  la  ville. 
C'est  pour  voir,  o.  la  leune  fille. 
C'est  pour  voir  la  jeune  fille 
Qui  n'aide  pas  a  sa  maman. . . 

(from  "Charmant  Billy. "  as  performed  by  Luneda  Comeaux  on  a  1934  Lomax 

recording) 


That  same  year,  Lomax  also  recorded  "J'ai  marie  un  ouvrier, "  a 
remarkable  Louisiana  French  version  of  an  old  English  ballad,  "The 
Carpenter's  Wife"  (Child  243),  sometimes' called  "James  Harris"  or  "The 
Demon  Lover, "  which  tells  the  story  of  a  woman  who  is  lured  away  from 
her  family  by  a  sailor  who  betrays  her  in  return.  This  Louisiana  French 


223 


version  preserves  references  to  the  "banks  of  the  Tennessee"  from  an 
Americanized  version  of  the  song,  first  published  in  Philadelphia  in 
1858: 


"J'ai  marie  un  ouvrier.  moi  qui  etais  si  vaillante  fille, 
Mais  c'etait  de  ro'en  dispenser  sans  attraper  des  reproches. ' 

'Mais  quitte  ton  ouvrier.  et  viens-t-en  done,  e'est  avec  moi. 
0  viens-t-en  done,  e'est  avec  moi  dessus  l'ecore  du 
Tennessee. ' 

'Dessus  l'ecore  du  Tennessee,  quoi-ce  t'aurais  pour 

m'entretenir? 

Quoi-ce  t'aurais  pour  m'entretenir  dessus  l'ecore  du 

Tennessee?" 

'J 'en  ai  de  ces  qros  navires  qui  naviquent  dessus  l'eau 
Et  soi-disant  pour  t'opposer  de  travailler. ' 

Au  bout  de  trois  lours,  trois  lours  et  trois  semaines. 
0  la  belle  se  mit  a  pleurer  1' ennui  de  sa  famille. 

'Ne  pleure  done  pas,  la  belle,  1e  t'acheterai  une  robe  de  sole 

.1aune 

Qu'elle  soit  mais  la  couleur  de  l'or  et  de  l'arqent. * 

'Je  ne  pleure  non  pas  ton  or,  ni  ton  or  ni  ton  argent. 
Mais  je  pleure  ma  famille  que  1'ai  laissee  la-bas.  ' 

"Je  t'ai  pas  tourjours  dit.  la  belle,  et  quand  ce  betiment 
celerait. 


0  il  aurait  une  carlet  a  plus  /jamais  resourdre. 


■ 


"Dessus  l'ecore  du  Tennessee,  t 'embrasserais  ton  cher  et  petit 

bebe. 

0  tu  l'embrasserais  a  plus  jamais  le  revoir. " 

(as  sung  by  Lanese  Vincent  and  Sidney  Richard,  Erath;  AFS  27bl) 

Some  adaptations  retained  their  original  names.  In  1934,  Alan  Lomax 
recorded  about  a  dozen  fiddle  tunes  by  Wayne  Perry  of  Indian  Bayou.  Of 
these,  most  were  Cajun  waltzes  and  two-steps,  but  some  had  titles  like 


22k 


■Chickens  Cackling, ■  and  "Sitting  on  Top  of  the  World, *  and  one  was  a 
Virginia  reel  called  "Old  Joe  Clark. ■  This  process  continued  veil  into 
the  twentieth  century  as  Cajun  musicians  adopted  tunes  they  heard  from 
travelling  bands  and  on  the  radio.  While  recording  Varise  Connor  of 
Lake  Arthur,  one  of  the  smoothest  of  the  old-time  Cajun  fiddlers,  often 
surprises  his  audiences  with  tunes  like  "Down  South,  "  "The  Carroll 
County  Blues,"  "The  Maiden's  Prayer,"  and  "If  You  Don't  See  Your  Mama 
Every  Night,  You  Won't  Have  No  Mama  At  All." 

Other  tunes  were  assimilated,  in  whole  or  in  part,  and  now  bear 
French  titles.  Some  of  these  have  become  Cajun  dance  music  standards. 
In  French  Louisiana,  for  example,  "The  Arkansas  Traveler"  tune  bears 
the  name  "Contredanse  francaise, "  "Old  Molly  Hare"  is  the  same  as 
"Contredanse  de  Mamou. ■  "Bonaparte  Crossing  the  Rhine"  (also  known  as 
"Wreck  of  the  Old  Number  Nine")  is  like  "Les  Veuves  de  la  coulee'  and 
the  melody  line  of  "J'ai  ete-z-au  bal  hier  au  soir"  sounds  distinctly 
like  the  first  phrase  of  "Get  Along  Home,  Cindy. " 

The  first  commercial  recordings  of  Cajun  music,  between  1928  and 

1932,  already  bore  the  marks  of  Anglo-American  tradition.  Joe  and 

Cleoma  Falcon,  the  first  to  record  in  1928,  soon  began  including  their 

own  French  translations  of  American  popular  tunes  like  "I'm  Thinking 

Tonight  of  My  Blue  Eyes,"  and  "Lu  Lu's  Back  in  Town:" 

Moi.  1'ai  pour  avoir  mon  suit  bien  repasse, 
Recoudre  un  bouton  sur  mon  qilet, 
Parce  qu'a  soir  .1'ai  pour  bien  me  preparer. 
Lulu  est  revenue  dans  le  village. 

J'ai  pour  me  trouver  un  cinquant  sous  en  quelque  part. 
J'ai  pour  briller  mes  souliers,  bien  peiqner  mes  cheveux. 
Parce  qu'a  soir  1'ai  pour  bien  me  preparer. 
Lulu  est  revenue  dans  le  village. . . 


225 


(from  'Lulu  est  revenue  dans  le  village. *  . ..,  as  sung  by  Cleoma  Falcon 
on»Cleoma  B.  Falcon:  A  Cajun  Classic, #Jadf el  Records) 

Leo  Soileau,  who  performed  on  the  second  Cajun  record,  "Hey,  Mama, 
Where  You  At?"  with  Mayus  Lafleur,  formed  one  of  the  first  string  bands 
as  the  accordion  began  to  lose  favor  during  the  30s.  His  Three  Aces 
recorded  early  country  and  sving  tunes,  some  translated,  some  not.  His 
discography,  filled  with  classic  Cajun  waltzes  and  two-steps  like  "The 
Basile  Waltz"  and  "Petite  ou  arosse. ■  also  includes  titles  of  obvious 
Anglo-American  origin  like  "My  Wild  Irish  Rose, "  "Let  Me  Call  You 
Sweetheart, "  and  "Love  Letters  in  the  Sand. "  Others  like  "Quand  1e  suis 
bleu. "  (When  I'm  Blue),  "Je  ne  me  tracasse  pas  plus. "  (I  Don't  Worry 
Anymore),  and  "Dans  ton  coeur  tu  aimes  un  autre"  (In  Your  Heart  You 
Love  Another)  are  thinly  disguised  translations  or  adaptations  of 
popular  songs.  The  tune  to  his  "Personne  m'aime  pas. "  for  example,  is 
the  same  as  "Nobody's  Darling  But  Mine,"  though  he  makes  no  apparent 
attempt  to  translate  the  English  lyrics: 

Qui,  mais.  personne  pour  m' aimer. 

Moi.  ,1e  connais.  oui.  ca  me  fait  pas  rien.  oui. 

0.  oui.  mais  personne  m'aime  pas. 

Oui.  ca  me  fait  rien.  mon  negre.  chere. . . 

(from  'Personne  m'aime  pas, "  as  performed  by  Leo  Soileau  on*Leo 

Soileau, *01d  Timey  Records) 


226 


In  the  thick  of  the  Americanizing  30s  and  40s,  stringbands  with 
names  like  Aces,  Ramblers,  Merrymakers,  and  Playboys  were  the  order  of 
the  day.  They  dutifully  imitated  bluegrass,  country  and  western  swing 
in  earnest,  producing  such  classics  as  the  Hackberry  Ramblers'  "Line 
piastre  ici.  une  piastre  la-bas. "  the  Oklahoma  Tornadoes'  bilingual 
'Dans  la  prison, ■  and  eventually  the  Riverside  Ramblers'  unilingual 
"Wondering. "  Harry  Choates  was  easily  the  most  popular  Cajun  stringband 
leader  of  his  day.  His  music  no  longer  imitated  western  swing.  It  was 
western  swing,  and  good  western  swing  at  that.  His  first  language  was 
French,  but  he  sang  the  language  of  swing  with  virtually  no  accent  in 
recordings  ranging  from  a  swinging  remake  of  the  traditional  "Pauvre 
Hobo"  to  songs  with  telling  titles  like  "Harry  Choates'  Special. ■ 

After  World  War  II,  returning  Cajun  GIs,  aching  from  foreign  wars 
in  faraway  places,  sank  into  the  hot  bath  of  their  own  culture.  They 
drank  and  danced  to  forget  the  war.  Dance  halls  throughout  South 
Louisiana  once  again  blared  the  familiar  sounds  of  homemade  music,  but 
the  traditional  sound  was  not  unaffected  by  the  years  of  apprenticeship 
to  America.  Trap  drum  sets,  steel  guitars  and  electric  pickups  remained 
as  part  of  the  new  standard  instrumentation.  Iry  Lejeune,  an  unwitting 
leader  of  the  revival  whose  1948  recording  of  "La  Valse  du  Pont 
d'Amour'  prompted  local  companies  to  record  the  new  wave  of  old  music, 
found  inspiration  in  diverse  sources.  Along  with  his  spirited 
renditions  of  the  legendary  Amede  Ardoin's  Creole  blues  recorded  in  the 
late  20s  and  early  30s,  he  recorded  songs  inspired  by  another  legendary 
blues  performer.  His  "Bosco  Blues"  clearly  echoes  the  tune  of  Jimmy 
Rogers'  "I  Was  a  Stranger,"  also  about  a  loner  who  walked  the  railroad 
tracks. 

227 


SI  tu  me  vols  apres  marcher  au  long  du  cherain  de  fer. 
Si  tu  me  vols  apres  marcher  au  long  du  chemin  de  fer. 
Parti  apres  une  balle  de  foin  pour  donner  a  won  petit  veau. 

(from  "It  Happened  to  Me, "  as  performed  by  Iry  Lejeune  on  The  Legendary 

Iry  Leleune,  Goldband  Records) 

One  of  the  most  important  figures  in  Cajun  music,  Nathan  Abshire 
often  adapted  popular  country  songs  to  Cajun  music.  The  tune  of  his 
classic  waltz,  "La  Valse  de  Belisaire, ■  is  based  on  Roy  Acuff 's  "A 
Precious  Jewel, "and  "Hon  coeur  fait  plus  mal"  is  a  direct  translation 
of  "I  Don't  Hurt  Anymore." 

In  the  1950s,  one  of  the  first  outlaws  of  country  music,  Hank 
Williams,  had  a  profound  effect  on  Cajun  music  in  general  and  on  D.  L. 
Menard  in  particular.  Menard,  who  relishes  his  nickname,  "The  Cajun 
Hank  Williams, "  composed  a  flurry  of  original  Cajun  songs  in  the  1960s, 
many  of  them  based  on  Hank's  tunes.  The  tune  for  his  classic  "La  Porte 
d'en  arriere. ■  for  example,  was  adapted  from  the  "Honky  Tonk  Blues. ■ 
Williams,  whose  only  son  was  born  in  Shreveport  while  Hank  was 
launching  his  career  on  the  stage  of  the  Louisiana  Hayride,  performed 
often  in  South  Louisiana.  It  was  in  those  bayou  honky-tonks  that  he 
encountered  the  Cajuns  and  their  hybrid  music  which  in  turn  affected 
his  own  repertoire.  His  "Cajun  Baby"  reflects  his  appreciation  for 
South  Louisiana's  dark-eyed  beauties.  One  of  his  biggest  hits, 
"Jambalaya, "  was  based  on  a  lively  but  unassuming  Cajun  two-step  called 
"Grand  Texas. ■  or  "L'Anse  Couche-couche. "  Interestingly,  Williams'  song 
later  came  home  to  roost,  translated  into  French  and  recorded  by  Aldus 
Roger  and  the  Lafayette  Playboys. 


228 


Bonsoir.  Joe,  moi,  1'ai  pour  aller.  moi  et  Mayeux. 
Moi,  1'ai  pour  aller  haler  la  pirogue  dessus  le  bayou. 
Ma  Yvonne,  la  plus  miqnonne  dessus  le  bayou. 
Son  of  a  gun,  on  va  s'amuser  dessus  le  bayou. 

Jambalaya,  les  ecrevisses  et  le  file  gumbo. 
A  solr  i'ai  pour  aller  voir  ma  chere  amle-o. . ♦ 

(from  "Jambalaya,  ■  Williams/Credeur,  as  sung  by  Johnny  Credeur  with 

Aldus  Roger  and  the  Lafayette  Playboys  on  Aldus  Roger  Plays  the  French 

Music  of  South  Louisiana,  La  Louisianne  Records) 


There  are  other  examples  of  the  current  of  influence  flowing  in 
both  directions.  The  tune  of  Joe  South 's  national  hit,  "The  Games 
People  Play, "  is  remarkably  close  to  that  of  a  Cajun  children's  song, 
'Petit  galop  pour  Mamou.  "  South  worked  for  a  while  in  the  south 
Louisiana  oil  patch  and  may  have  heard  it  during  that  time.  Cajun 
musician  Nathan  Abshire  later  recorded  a  translation  called  'Les  Games 
gue  le  monde  1oue. " 

L9f   ldf    13t • • 

Oh  the  games  people  play,  now, 
Every  night  and  every  day,  now, 
Never  meaning  what  they  say,  now, 
Never  saying  what  they  mean. 

While  they  while  away  the  hours 
In  their  ivory  towers, 
Till  they're  covered  up  with  flowers 
In  the  back  of  a  black  limousine. 

(from  "The  Games  People  Play,"...,  as  performed  by  Joe  South 

Ld|   Id)   X  3  •  •  • 

0  les  games  gue  le  monde  ,1oue 

Ca  me  fait  de  la  peine  de  les  voir  faire. 

Casser  le  coeur  de  nous 

Tout  le  temps  dans  les  miseres. 

La.  la.  la. . . 


229 


(from  'Leg  Games  que  le  monde  joue, •  as  performed  by  Hathan  Abshire  and 
his  Pinegrove  Boys  on  Plneqrove  Blues.  Svallov  Records) 

The  Cajuns  seem  to  have  become  exotic  examples  of  cultural  survival 

in  America  and  a  surprising  number  of  superstars  have  an  interest  in 

Cajun  music.  The  first  recording  of  country  music  superstar  Waylon 

Jennings  was  a  waltz  called  "Jolie  Blonde. ■  A  number  of  groups  have 

recorded  versions  of  a  Link  Davis  adaptation  called  "Big  Hamou. "  Recent 

recordings  by  Johnny  Cash,  Loretta  Lynn,  Conway  Tvitty,  and  Charlie 

Daniels  have  focused  on  the  Cajuns.  Jerry  Reed's  ornery, 

swamp-dwelling,  alligator-fighting  "Amos  Moses"  is  fairly 

representative  of  the  Cajun's  Southern  Comfort-style  stereotype  in  many 

of  these  songs. 

Amos  Moses  vas  a  Cajun. 

He  lived  vay  back  in  the  swamp. 

He  fought  alligators  for  a  living. 

He'd  just  hit  on  the  head  with  a  stump. 

(from  "Amos  Moses, "  as  performed  by  Jerry  Reed  on  "Jerry  Reed, •  MCA 

Records) 

Eramylou  Harris  even  included  a  touch  of  accordion  (played  by  Garth 

Hudson,  formerly  of  The  Band  which  prepared  for  their  first  tour  in  a 

cabin  near  Lake  Charles)  in  her  recording  of  "Leaving  Louisiana  in  the 

Broad  Daylight, "  also  about  Cajuns  getting  mad  in  the  swamp. 

Well,  it's  down  in  the  swamp  where  anything  goes, 
It's  alligator  bait  and  the  bars  don't  close. 
It's  the  real  thing  down  in  Louisiana. 

Did  you  ever  seen  a  Cajun  when  he  really  got  mad, 
Really  got  trouble  like  a  daughter  gone  bad? 


230 


It  gets  real  hot  down  in  Louisiana. 

Oh  the  stranger'd  better  move  it  or  he's  gonna  get  killed, 
Gonna  have  to  get  it  or  the  shotgun  vill. 
It  ain't  no  time  for  lengthy  speeches, 
No,  it  ain't  no  time  for  lengthy  speeches. 

(from  "Leaving  Louisiana  in  the  Broad  Daylight, ■  Rodney  Crowell,  as 

performed  by  Emmylou  Harris  on*Quarter  Moon  in  a  Ten-Cent  Sky, *HCA 

Records) 


And  on  13,  Harris  also  included  a  version  of  the  "Lacassine  Special,  " 
which  she  and  her  Hot  Band  learned  vhile  visiting  South  Louisiana,  with 
rhythm  guitarist  Barry  Tashian  playing  an  accordion  he  bought  from 
Cajun  musician  and  instrument  maker  Hare  Savoy  of  Eunice,  Louisiana. 

Jimmy  C.  Newman  and  Doug  Kershaw  have  made  their  marks  on  the 
national  scene  with  a  combination  of  styles  ranging  from  traditional 
Cajun  music  to  country  and  rockabilly.  In  the  1960s,  Doug  Kershaw 
gained  something  of  a  cult  following  with  hits  like  "Louisiana  Man"  and 
"Diggy  Liggy  Lo. ■  He  often  recycled  traditional  Cajun  tunes  to  produce 
his  blend  of  Cajun,  country  and  rock.  'La  Valse  des  bambocheurs, "  for 
example,  became  "I'm  Not  Strong  Enough,"  and  his  "Cajun  Stripper"  is  a 
souped  up  version  of  the  traditional  "Bosco  Stomp. "  After  a  string  of 
straight  country  hits  in  the  1950s,  Jimmy  C.  Newman  finally  broke  a  few 
Cajun  influenced  songs  into  the  charts  with  "Alligator  Han"  in  1961, 
"Bayou  Talk"  in  1962  and  "Louisiana  Saturday  Night"  in  1967.  In  1974, 
he  recorded  "Lache  pas  la  patate.  "  The  bilingual  version  hit  the 
American  charts  and  the  French  version  earned  a  gold  record  in  Canada. 
In  addition  to  his  years  with  Jimmy  C.  Newman,  fiddler  Rufus  Thibodeaux 
has  added  his  Cajun  shuffle  to  lots  of  country  and  western  swing  bands, 


231 


performing  vith  such  giants  as  Bob  Wills,  Ernest  Tubbs,  George  Jones, 

Merle  Haggard,  and  Neil  Young. 

East  of  the  Atchafalaya  Basin,  in  the  Terrebonne  and  Lafourche 

country,  Cajun  music  and  country  have  blended  effortlessly  for  years. 

The  music  of  performers  like  L.  J.  Foret,  Gene  Rodrigue,  and  especially 

Vin  Bruce  represents  a  happy  marriage  of  the  two  styles. 

0  chere  petite  fille,  moi  qui  t'aime  oui  autant. 

0  chere  petite  sois  tout  le  temps  avec  »oi. 

Un  jour  a  l'avenir  tu  vas  voir  ca  je  te  dis. 

Je  vas  d'etre  apres  t'esperer  dedans  la  Louisiane. . . 

(from  "Dedans  la  Louisiane, "Bruce/Martin,  as  sung  by  Vin  Bruce,  Cajun 

Country  Swallow  Records) 

Today,  there  continues  to  be  some  direct  translation  of 

contemporary  country  hits  like  Carney  Doucet's  version  of  "Swinging" 

("Bercer")  and  Belton  Richard's  versions  of  "Elvira"  ( "Clotllia* ).  "The 

Streak"  ("La  Petite  Eclair"),  and  "Behind  Closed  Doors"  ("En  arriere 

des  portes  fermees" ) : 

Ma  belle  me  fait  fier.  0  comme  elle  me  fait  fier. 

Elle  me  fait  jamais  honte  a  se  pendre  dessus  moi  devant  le 

monde. 

Parce  que  le  monde  aime  parler.  0  comme  ca  aime  parler. 

Mais  quand  ca  6te  les  lumieres.  je  connais  elle  va  partir  avec 

moi. 

Mais  quand  on  se  met  en  arriere  des  portes  fermees. . . 

(from  "En  arriere  des  portes  fermees. "  as  performed  by  Belton  Richard 

and  the  Musical  Aces  on  Good  'n  Cajun,  Swallow  Records) 


232 


The  sound  that  English  author  John  Broven  has  dubbed  svamp  pop  is 

essentially  Cajun  rhythm  and  blues.  This  can  be  expressed  in  French,  as 

in  the  music  of  Belton  Richard  and  his  Musical  Aces. 

Un  autre  soir  ennuyant 

Quand  toi,  t'es  pas  la. 

Les  larmes  tombent  dans  mon  coeur. 

C'est  ca  qui  me  fait  peur. 

Un  autre  soir  ennuyant. 

(from  "Un  autre  soir  d'ennui, *  Belton  Richard,  as  performed  by  Belton 

Richard  and  the  Musical  Aces  on  Modern  Sounds  in  Calun  Music.  Swallow 

Records) 

Or  bilingually,  as  in  the  music  of  Gib  Guilbeau: 

Why  did  you  go  and  leave  me  in  Louisiana,  Sweet  Susannah? 
You  left  me  for  a  fellow  who  wore  a  big  black  umbrella. 
He  came  to  the  sticks  to  buy  some  antiques. 
He  was  a  wheeler  and  dealer,  a  woman  stealer. 

C'est  la  belle  de  la  Louisiane 
Qui  va  jamais  faire  ma  femme. 
Elle  est  1olie.  Elle  est  miqnonne, 
Mais  elle  est  pas  bonne. . . 

(from  "Sweet  Susannah, ■  Gib  Guilbeau,  as  performed  by  Clint  West  and 

the  Boogie  Kings  on  J'etais  au  bal,  Swallow  Records) 

Some  swamp  pop  performers,  like  Johnny  Allan  (Guillot),  Warren 
Storm  (Schexnayder),  and  Rod  Bernard,  were  the  sons  of  Cajun  musicians, 
and  this  heritage  sometimes  showed  through  the  rock  and  roll.  Local 
record  companies,  like  Ville  Platte's  own  Jinn  Records,  were  formed  to 
release  some  of  these  crossover  classics.  In  1955,  Bobby  Page  and  the 
Riff  Raffs  recorded  a  rocking  version  of  "Hip  et  Taiaut. "  a  standard 
Cajun  two-step,  with  blazing  saxes  and  electric  guitars  instead  of  an 
accordion  and  fiddles,  but  the  song  was  French  and  so  was  the  feeling. 
Rod  Bernard  hit  the  charts  in  1953  with  a  song  c&lled  "This  Should  Gc 

233 


On  Forever"  and  even  appeared  on  American  Bandstand.  Another  of  his 

hits  was  a  bilingual  version  of  "Allons  danser,  Colinda. "  In  1961, 

Cleveland  Crochet  sneaked  into  the  charts  with  an  accordion/rock  blend 

called  "Sugar  Bee. "  Joe  Barry  recorded  'Je  suis  bet  Csic]  pour 

t'aimer. "  a  translation  of  his  own  hit  "I'm  a  Fool  to  Care."  A  sort  of 

Cajun  Freddie  Fender,  Johnny  Allan  has  recently  recorded  several 

bilingual  songs  like  "One  More  Tlme/Une  autre  chance'  and  "Little  Fat 

Man/Petit  homme  pros, "  but  he  had  perhaps  his  biggest  hit  in  1962  vith 

a  parody  of  Johnny  Horton's  "North  to  Alaska"  called  "South  to 

Louisiana. " 

Adaptations  continue  to  enrich  the  repertoire  of  Cajun  musicians. 

Under  the  creative  guidance  of  singer/songwriter  Ivy  Dugas,  Phil  Menard 

and  the  Louisiana  Travelers  have  recorded  several  obvious  Cajun 

versions  of  country  songs,  such  as  "Mauvais  Leroy  Brovn. "  In  an  effort 

to  generate  new  repertoire  for  Cajun  musicians  in  the  French  Canadian 

tradition  of  Willie  Lamotte,  David  Marcantel  adapted  several  popular 

country  songs,  like  "Country  Roads"  ("Ma  Louisiane* )  and  "Help  Me  Make 

It  Through  the  Night"  ("Aide-moi  a  passer  la  nuit").  with  orchestral 

arrangements  instead  of  traditional  instrumentation  for  his  singer 

sister  Nancy  Tabb  Marcantel. 

Today  young  Cajun  musicians  would  be  less  than  honest  if  they 

pretended  that  they  never  listened  to  the  radio.  Thus,  the  sounds  of 

country  and  rock,  reggae  and  jazz  are  incorporated  today  as  naturally 

as  were  the  blues  and  French  contredanses  of  old.  Zachary  Richard  has 

blended  country,  rock  and  reggae  into  his  Zack  Attack  sound. 

Hello,  Josephine,  comment  ca  va? 
Hello,  Josephine,  comment  ca  va? 


23^ 


On  jouait  ensemble. 

On  chantait,  "Ou  la  la.  " 

J'aime  comment  tu  marches. 

J'alme  comment  tu  paries. 

J'aime  comment  tu  "ou  la  la,"  Josephine. 

On  jouait  ensemble. 

On  chantait,  "Ou  la  la. . .  " 

(from  "Hello,  Josephine, "  Domino/Richard,  as  performed  by  Zachary 

Richard  on  Vent  d'ete,  Kebec  Disc) 

Wayne  Toups  has  also  blended  outside  sources  to  form  his  ZydeCajun 

sound.  His  "ZydeCajun"  album  on  Kajun  Records  represents  a  remarkable 

fusion  of  traditional  and  modern  influences  and  has  several  songs  that 

are  obviously  influenced  by  contemporary  sounds.  His  'Zydeco  est  pas 

sale"  is  the  most  rocking  version  yet  recorded,  and  his  version  of  Sam 

Cooke's  "Got  You  On  My  Mind"  makes  great  use  of  the  talents  of  former 

Red  Beans  and  Rice  Revue  lead  guitarist  Tommy  Shreve.  Wayne's 

translation  shows  that  Cajun  French  continues  to  effectively  transmit 

rhythm  and  blues  lyrics: 

T'es  la  sur  mon  idee, 

Apres  jonqler,  ma  chere  petite  fille.  ayou  toi.  t'es. 

T'es  la  sur  mon  idee. 

Apres  jonqler,  ma  chere  petite  fille.  ayou  toi,  t'es.  yeah. 

Apres  jonqler  ayoQ  toi,  t'es 

Et  jonqler,  ma  chere  petite  fille,  ayou  tu  vas  aller. 

Les  larmes  commencent  a  tomber 

Chaque  fols,  ma  chere  petite  fille.  je  jonqle  a  toi. 

Les  larmes  commencent  a  tomber 

Chaque  fois,  ma  chere  petite  fille.  je  jonqle  a  toi.  yeah. 

Depuis  quand  t'as  quitte, 

L'amour  alentour  icitte,  c'est  pas  la  meme. . . 

(from  "T'es  la  sur  mon  idee, ■  Cooke/Toups,  as  performed  by  Wayne  Toups 

and  the  ZydeCajun  Band  on  Wayne  Toups  ZydeCajun,  Kajun  Records) 


235 


Cajun  music  has  undeniably  been  affected  by  American  music.  It  has 
in  turn  had  a  certain  effect  on  the  national  music  scene.  The  permanent 
exhibit  of  the  Country  Music  Hall  of  Fame  includes  a  section  devoted  to 
Cajun  music.  Yet  the  changes  which  have  occurred  in  the  tradition  are 
not  necessarily  a  sign  of  decay,  as  it  vas  first  thought.  On  the 
contrary,  they  may  be  a  sign  of  vitality.  The  early  effects  of 
Americanization  were  rightly  considered  drastic  because  it  vas  too  much 
too  fast  and  the  melting  pot  boiled  over.  After  World  War  II,  however, 
the  cooks  of  South  Louisana  culture  regained  control  of  their  own 
kitchen  and  continue  to  simmer  a  gumbo  of  rich  and  diverse  ingredients, 
including  a  heaping  tablespoon  of  Anglo-American  influence. 


236 


RECONSIDERING  THE  HISTORY  OF  CAJUN  AND  CREOLE  MUSIC: 
THE  LONAX  RECORDINGS,  1934-1937 
Barry  Jean  Ancelet 

During  the  1930s,  John  and  Alan  Lomax  travelled  across  this  country 
recording  traditional  music  for  the  Library  of  Congress.  Their  work 
paralleled  other  Depression  years  projects  like  the  Farm  Securities 
Administration's  photographers  project  and  the  Work  Projects 
Administration's  Federal  Writer's  Project  which  had  as  a  goal  to 
document  America.  These  projects  represented  an  important  change  in  the 
way  America  perceived  itself  as  Teddy  Roosevelt's  melting  pot 
nationalism  gave  way  to  more  pluralistic  attitudes  focusing  on  the 
richness  of  ethnic,  cultural  and  linguistic  diversity.  The  Lomax 
recordings  became  the  basis  for  the  Library's  Archive  of  Folk  Song,  a 
veritable  treasure  of  America's  traditional  music. 

Commercial  recording  companies  like  Decca,  Columbia,  RCA  Victor  and 
Bluebird  had  been  recording  regional  and  ethnic  music  from  throughout 
America  since  the  early  part  of  this  century  to  sell  record  players. 
There  was  not  yet  a  national  music  scene.  In  order  to  arouse  interest 
in  their  machines,  they  had  to  provide  the  kind  of  music  that  people 
were  interested  in  hearing:  their  own.  To  sell  record  players  in  South 
Louisiana,  these  companies  inadvertently  recorded  the  tail  end  of  a 
formative  period  in  the  development  of  Cajun  music,  as  well  as  its 
subsequent  changes.  Since  commercial  records  were  made  to  be  sold,  they 
provided  a  good  barometer  of  popular  trends.  They  also  gave  a  sort  of 
imprimatur  to  the  musicians  they  recorded.  In  South  Louisiana, 


237 


traditional  culture  vas  the  popular  culture  at  the  turn  of  the  century, 
but  soon  enough  the  recorded  musicians  began  to  set  the  "official" 
style.  Joseph  and  Cleoma  Falcon  vere  fairly  well-known  in  the  area 
around  their  native  Rayne,  but  the  release  of  "Lafayette"  in  1928  made 
them  larger  than  life.  Later  that  same  year,  Cleoma  Falcon's  brothers 
Ophe,  Cleopha  and  Amede  Breaux  made  the  first  recording  of  "Jolie 
Blonde, "  which  they  called  "Ma  blonde  est  partie. "  The  instrumentation 
and  style  of  the  recording  were  just  as  classic  as  the  waltz  was  to 
become,  including  the  accordion,  fiddle  and  guitar,  and  a  high-pitched 
singing  style  necessary  to  pierce  through  the  noise  of  early  dance 
halls. 

It  was  in  this  period,  just  after  the  turn  of  the  century  that  the 
stock  repertoire  of  Cajun  and  Creole  music  was  formed  based  on  a  blend 
of  influences  from  French,  Acadian,  Spanish,  German,  Amerindian, 
Scotch-Irish,  Anglo-American  and  black  traditions.  The  blend  of  sounds 
in  Cajun  music  reflected  the  gumbo  of  cultures  in  South  Louisiana. 
Dennis  McGee's  "Valse  du  vacher. "  for  example,  recorded  in  1929,  is  a 
bluesy  description  of  the  life  of  a  cowboy  sung  in  French  to  the  tune 
of  an  old  world  mazurka.  Others  like  Amede  Ardoin,  Leo  Soileau,  Mayus 
Lafleur,  Moise  Robin,  the  Walker  Brothers,  the  Segura  Brothers,  and 
Angelas  Lejeune  joined  in  the  first  wave  of  Cajun  and  Creole  musicians 
to  record. 

By  the  mid-1930s,  the  Americanization  of  South  Louisiana  was  well 
under  way.  Accordions  began  to  fade  from  the  scene  as  string  bands  like 
the  Hackberry  Ramblers  and  Leo  Soileau's  Four  Aces  drifted  toward 
Anglo-American  styles,  incorporating  western  swing,  country  and  popular 


238 


radio  tunes  into  their  repertoires.  Rural  electrification  made  sound 
amplification  available  to  country  dance  halls  producing  changes  in 
instrumental  and  singing  styles.  Yet,  though  traditional  Cajun  and 
Creole  music  vas  pushed  underground  by  nev,  more  popular  sounds,  the 
Lomax  recordings  show  that  it  did  not  disappear. 

Home  music,  including  unaccompanied  singing  and  individual 
instrumentals,  was  virtually  untapped  by  commercial  recordings  vhich 
focused  on  the  public  mode  of  Cajun  music.  The  Lomaxes  made  a 
deliberate  attempt  to  cover  the  ground  that  commercial  companies 
ignored.  Unlike  the  commercial  companies  vhich  brought  musicians  out  of 
their  cultural  contexts  to  record  in  urban  centers  like  Nev  Orleans, 
Chicago  and  Nev  York,  the  Lomaxes  vent  to  the  musicians'  and  singers' 
home  turf  vith  the  Library  of  Congress  recording  machine  vith  vhich 
they  made  aluminum  disks  in  the  field.  It  is  evident  from  the  list  of 
tovns  they  recorded  in  that  the  Lomaxes  vere  travelling  dovn  the  Old 
Spanish  Trail,  highvay  90.  The  majority  of  recordings  are  from  Nev 
Iberia,  Lafayette,  Crovley  and  Jennings,  although  there  are  some  from 
side  trips  to  places  like  Erath,  Kaplan,  Delcambre,  St.  Martinville  and 
Bosco.  They  recorded  ballads,  blues  laments,  drinking  songs,  round 
dance  songs,  along  vith  a  fev  fiddle  tunes  and  house  dance  bands. 
Because  they  focused  on  the  oldest  expressions,  the  sounds  they 
documented  vent  much  further  back  than  the  commercial  records  vhich 
tended  to  capture  contemporary  styles.  Some  of  these  songs  have  long 
been  available  in  transcription  in  Irene  Whitfield's  landmark  study, 
Louisiana  French  Folk  Songs,  but  the  rediscovery  of  these  discs  in  the 
Library  of  Congress's  Archive  of  Traditional  Music  adds  the  element  of 


239 


sound  to  help  understand  some  of  the  early  roots  of  Louisiana  French 
music. 

While  looking  for  singers  in  New  Iberia,  Alan  Lomax  met  the 
Hoffpauir  girls.  He  was  struck  by  the  variety  of  their  songs  and  the 
clarity  of  their  voices.  "J'ai  vu  Lucille, ■  a  fairly  liberated  little 
ditty  by  the  Hoffpauir  girls,  describes  a  woman  vith  one  eye  closed, 
perhaps  kissing  her  man,  and  the  other  eye  open  looking  for  another. 
The  notion  that  sleeping  in  the  arms  of  her  man  vill  give  a  girl  good 
dreams  seems  innocent  enough  today,  but  was  quite  racy  for  the  times. 

J'AI  VU  LUCILLE  (31b3)  Elita,  Mary  and  Ella  Hoffpauir,  Nev  Iberia 

J'ai  vu  Lucille  avec  un  oeil  ferme 

Et  1' autre  etait  ouvert  apres  reqarder  pour  un  autre. 


0  toi,  cherie,  si  tu 

veux  faire  un  1oli  reve. 

Essaie  de  sommeiller 

dedans  les  bras  de  ton  neqre. 

J'ai  pris  le  char  et 
Jusque  ca  ou  bien  le 

.i'ai  ride  les  blues 

plus  loin  le  char  m'amene. 

The  Hoffpauir  sisters  sang  several  songs  together,  but  Lomax 
seemed  particularly  interested  in  sixteen-year-old  Elita  whose 
remarkable  voice  and  songs  reflected  both  the  richness  of  her  French 
European  heritage  and  the  influence  of  her  black  Creole  neighbors. 
"Tout  un  beau  soir  en  me  promenant, "  a  fragmented  version  of  "La_ 
Rencontre  au  bois  charmant"  (Laforte  J-13)  of  the  berqere  cycle  popular 
in  French  and  French-American  tradition  describes  the  meeting  of  the 
lumberjacks  and  the  shepherdess  who  tells  them  that  if  they  will  spare 
the  trees,  she  will  keep  their  glasses  filled  with  wine. 


240 


TOUT  UN  BEAU  SOIR  EN  HE  PROMENANT  (37al)  Elita  Hoffpauir,  New  Iberia 

Tout  un  beau  soir  en  me  promenant 

0  tout  du  long  du  petit  bois  charmant. 

'Garde,  le  vols  la-bas,  1e  vois  venir  une  bergere. 
Ca  me  fait  rappeler  la  seule  que  mon  coeur  aime. 

"Belle  bergere.  jolie  bergere, 

C'est  guoi  vous  faites  dedans  ces  bois?* 

"J'ai  mes  moutons  dedans  ces  plaines 
La  ou  le  loup  me  fait  souvent  ouvrage.  * 

Les  beaux  bQcheurs,  ils  sont  partis  au  bois. 
C'est  pour  couper  la  fleur  du  bois. 

"Ne  couper  pas  ni  la  souche  ni  la  retraite. 
Vous  gouterez  du  vin  dans  mes  bouteilles.  * 

"En  buvons  une.  en  buvons  deux. 
En  buvons  trois,  o  s'il  le  faut.  " 

"Le  Clefs  de  la  prison. "  on  the  other  hand,  is  clearly  influenced 

by  black  Creole  tradition.  The  words,  sung  to  a  bluesy  tune,  echo  the 

"prisoner's  farewell"  motif  found  in  commercially  recorded  Creole  songs 

like  Amede  Ardoin's  "Blues  de  la  prison"  and  Canray  Fontenot's  'Barres 

de  la  prison.  " 


LES  CLEFS  DE  LA  PRISON  (31a2)  Elita  Hoffpauir,  New  Iberia 

Chere  Mam,  o  viens  me  donner  les  clefs. 

Les  clefs  de  la  prison,  les  clefs  de  la  prison. 

"Baptiste,  comment  tu  veux  le  te  donne 

Les  clefs  de  la  prison  guand  les  officiers 

Les  ont  accrochees  dans  le  cou.  les  ont  accrochees  dans  le 

cou?" 

Chere  Mam,  ils  vont  venir  me  chercher, 

Mais  a  neuf  heures  a  soir. 

Mais  oui,  c'est  pour  me  pendre, 

Mais  a  dix  heures  en  nuit.  mais  a  dix  heures  en  nuit. 

Chere  Mam,  c'est  ca  qui  me  fait  plus  de  peine. 

C'est  de  savoir  ma  mort, 

Aussi  longtetnps  d'avance,  aussi  longtemps  d'avance. 


241 


Grandpere.  mala  qui  s'a  mis  a  qenoux 

En  s'arrachant  les  cheveux,  en  s'arrachant  les  cheveux. 

'Baptiste,  comment  fas  pu  guitte, 

Mais  c'est  pour  t'en  aller 

Dans  une  si  qrande  prison?" 

Cher  Pap,  comment  tu  voulais  1e  fais 

Quand  les  officiers  etaient  tout  le  tour  de  moi 

Avec  les  carabines,  avec  les  carabines? 

Chere  Mam,  c'est  ca  qui  me  fait  plus  de  peine. 

C'est  de  savoir  ma  mort 

Aussi  lonqtemps  d'avance.  aussi  lonqtemps  d'avance. 

0  Mam,  lis  vont  venir  me  chercher. 

Mais  a  neuf  heures  a  soir, 

Mais  oui,  c'est  pour  me  pendre, 

Mais  a  dix  heures  en  nuit.  mais  a  dix  heures  en  nuit. 

Chere  Mam,  oui,  je  veux  c'est  toi  qui  m'emmenes. 

Mais  oui,  mon  corps  en  terre 

Avec  mon  beau  cheval  cannel 

Et  ma  belle  voiture  noire 

Avec  les  quatres  roues  rouges,  avec  les  quatres  roues  rouges. 

Chere  Mam,  oui,  1e  veux  c'est  toi  qui  m'emmenes, 

Mais  oui,  mon  corps  en  terre 

Avec  mon  beau  cheval  cannel 

Et  ma  belle  voiture  noire 

Avec  les  quatres  roues  rouges,  avec  les  quatres  roues  rouges. 

After  recording  the  Hoffpauir  girls  for  the  better  part  of  an 

afternoon,  Lomax  rightly  felt  he  had  found  a  cultural  treasure.  Then, 

one  of  the  girls  told  him  that  they  were  happy  to  sing  for  him,  but 

that  he  should  wait  for  the  real  singer  in  the  family  to  get  home.  When 

their  father  arrived,  Lomax  understood  what  the  girls  meant.  Julian 

Hoffpauir  was  a  powerful  singer  with  a  vast  repertoire  of  songs  from 

France  and  Acadia  which  ranged  from  lullabies  to  drinking  songs  and 

included  some  of  the  most  beautiful  complaintes  ever  recorded,  like  his 

vereion  of  "La  Belle  et  les  trois  capitaines, ■  also  known  as  "La  Belle 

qui  fait  la  morte. *  which  Child  associates  with  "The  Gay  Goshawk"  (no. 

96).  In  order  to  avoid  the  advances  of  the  young  captain,  the  maiden 


242 


feigns  death  for  three  days  to  return  with  her  honor  intact  to  her 
father  and  true  love  in  the  end.  Unlike  Shakespeare's  Juliet,  this 
maiden's  plan  succeeds. 

LA  BELLE  ET  LE  CAPITAINE  (32al)  Julian  Hoffpauir,  New  Iberia 

Le  plus  jeune  des  trois, 

L'a  pris  par  sa  main  blanche. 

"Montez.  montez,  la  belle, 
Dessus  mon  cheval  qris. 
Au  loqis  chez  mon  pere, 
Je  vous  emmenerai. * 

Ouand  la  belle-z-entend, 
Elle  s'est  mis-t-a  pleurer. 

"Soupez,  soupez,  la  belle, 
Prenez,  oui-z-appetit. 
Aupres  du  capitaine 
Vous  passerez  la  nuit.  * 

Quand  la  belle-z-entend, 
La  belle  est  tombee  morte. 

"Sonnez,  sonnez  les  cloches. 
Tambours,  violons,  marchez. 
Ma  miqnonnette  est  morte. 
J'en  ai  le  coeur  dolent. 

"Et  oQ  l'enterreront-ils?" 
"Dedans  le  jardin  de  son  pere 
Sous  les  trois  feuilles  de  lys. 
Nous  prions  Dieux,  cher  frere, 
Qu'elle  aille  en  paradis. * 

Au  bout  de  trois  jours. 

La  belle  frappe  a  la  porte. 

"Ouvrez,  ouvrez  la  porte, 
Cher  pere  et  bien  alme. 
J'ai  fait  la  morte  trois  lours 
Pour  sauver  mon  honneur.  " 

The  Lomaxes  captured  the  tail  end  of  an  active  unaccompanied 

singing  tradition  in  South  Louisiana.  The  collection  includes  other 

beautiful  eolo  performances  like  that  of  Fenelus  Sonnier,  of  Erath. 

2^3 


LA  CHANSON  DE  THEOGENE  DUBOIS  (26b2)  Fenelus  Sonnier,  Erath 

Je  me  marie  dans  quatre  semaines. 
0  avec  qui,  avec  Theoqene  Dubois. 

Prends-le,  ma  fille.  c'est  un  vaillant  qarqon. 
II  ne  joue  pas  aux  cartes  que  bien  souvent. 

Que  bien  souvent,  qu'il  joue  que  son  habit. 
Que  bien  souvent,  qu'il  joue  que  son  habit. 

Adieu.  Theoqene,  ayou  tu  te  sauves? 
Sonqez,  petit,  ,1'ai  perdu  mon  chapeau. 

Adieu,  Theoqene,  ayou  tu  te  sauves? 
Sonqez  mon  homme,  ,1'ai  perdu  mon  habit. 

Adieu,  Theoqene,  ayou  tu  sauves? 
Sonqez,  mon  homme,  ,1'ai  perdu  mon  habit. 

Le  voila  Theoqene  qui  s'en  vient  la-bas, 
Nu  pied,  nue  tete,  il  a  plus  d' habit. 

Le  voila  Theoqene  qui  s'en  vient  la-bas, 
Nu  pied,  nue  tete,  il  a  plus  d'habit. 

However,  some  of  the  most  interesting  recordings  are  of  group 

singing.  Fenelus  Sonnier,  for  example,  usually  sang  vith  one  or  more  of 

his  brothers  Isaac,  Cleveland  and  Romelus,  and  their  first  cousin, 

Fenelon  Brasseaux,  all  of  Erath,  for  veddings,  boucheries  and  other 

community  gatherings.  Their  repertoire  included  blues  ballads  like  "La 

Chanson  des  Savoy: " 


LA  CHANSON  PES  SAVOY  (26bl)  Fenelon  Brasseaux,  Isaac  and  Cleveland 

Sonnier,  Erath 

Le  soleil  est  proche  couche  et  mon  cheval,  il  est  proche 

larque 

Et  .1'ai  faim  et  ,1'ai  soif  et  je  suis  loin  de  ma  famille. 


244 


Bye- 

-bye. 

jolie 

brune,  et 

bye-bye. 

jolie 

blonde. 

blon 

Mais  ca, 

c'eet 

tout  pour 

la 

brune 

et  pas 

t  rien  pour  la 

de. 

Je  suis 

parti 

au  Baton  Rouqe/qrand 

bois 

avec  la  ioque 

au 

plombeau. 
Les  ferailles 

a  la  poche 

et 

le  jeu 

de  ca 

irtes  dans  la  i 

nain, 

Et  je  cherche  qu'a  malfaire. 

Bye-bye,  jolie  brune,  et  bye-bye,  jolie  blonde. 

Mais  ca,  c'est  tout  pour  la  brune  et  pas  rien  pour  la  blonde. 

Je  suis  parti  au  Baton  Rouge  pour  recevoir  la  berouette. 

En  recevant  de  la  berouette,  mais  c'est  le  fouet  dessus  mon 

dos, 

Mais  je  prefere  que  la  mort. 

Bye-bye,  jolie  brune,  et  bye-bye,  .lolie  blonde. 

Mais  ca,  c'est  tout  pour  la  brune  et  pas  rien  pour  la  blonde. 

It  also  included  songs  to  accompany  drinking,  such  as  "Trinquons:" 


TRINQUONS  (26a3)  Fenelon  Brasseaux,  Isaac  and  Cleveland  Sonnier,  Erath 

Trinquons,  trinquons,  mes  chers  camarades, 
Mais  oublions  .jamais  la  raison. 

Soutenez  mon  verre  et  me  voila  par  terre. 
Chantez  de  boire  du  matin  au  soir. 

Que  le  tonnerre  qroqne  et  que  la  muraille  recule. 
Me  voila  par  terre  du  matin  au  soir. 

In  the  Kaplan  area,  Alan  Lomax  found  another  family  of  singers,  the 

Vincents.  He  was  discussing  his  project  in  a  bar  one  Sunday  afternoon 

when  someone  next  to  him  said  that  he  knew  people  who  sang  and  took  him 

to  meet  Lanese  Vincent  and  his  cousin  Sidney  Richard  who  were  in  town 

for  the  day.  They  went  into  one  of  the  loading  chutes  at  the  Louisiana 

State  Rice  Mill  to  isolate  themselves  from  the  street  noise  and  there 

recorded  some  of  the  most  remarkable  songs  of  the  entire  collection, 

such  as  "J'ai  marie  un  ouvrier, "  a  Louisiana  French  version  of  Child 

243,  "James  Harris"  or  "The  Demon  Lover,"  often  called  "The  Carpenter's 


&5 


Wife. ■  In  Louisiana  French,  ouvrier  is  not  a  general  laborer,  as  in 
continental  French,  but  specifically  a  carpenter.  In  this  version,  a 
veil-bred  young  vife,  bored  vith  her  carpenter  husband,  is  svept  avay 
by  a  sailor.  When  he  brings  her  to  the  port  city,  she  learns  that  he  is 
to  sail  avay.  She  then  realizes  that  she  vill  be  alone  and  unable  to 
return  to  the  family  she  has  abandoned.  The  yellov  silk  dress  he  offers 
her  in  consolation  is  mentioned  in  Scottish  versions  of  the  ballad  (in 
David  Buchan's  Ballads  of  the  North  of  Scotland).   Although  it  is 
tempting  to  explore  the  connection  betveen  northvestern  France  and 
Celtic  England,  it  is  more  likely  that  this  Louisiana  French  variant 
developed  from  American  sources.  Child  refers  to  an  Americanized 
version  published  in  Philadelphia  (1858)  vhich  also  sets  the  story  "on 
the  banks  of  the  old  Tennessee. " 

J'AI  MARIE  UN  OUVRIER  (27bl)  Lanese  Vincent  and  Sidney  Richard,  Kaplan 

"J'ai  marie  un  ouvrier,  moi  qui  etais  si  vaillante  fille, 
Mais  c'etait  de  m'en  dispenser  sans  attraper  des  reproches. * 

"Hais  quitte  ton  ouvrier,  et  viens-t-en  done,  e'est  avec  moi. 
0  viens-t-en  done,  e'est  avec  moi  dessus  l'ecore  du 
Tennessee. " 

"Dessus  l'ecore  du  Tennessee,  quoi-ce  t'aurais  pour 

m'entretenir? 

Quoi-ce  t'aurais  pour  m'entretenir  dessus  l'ecore  du 

Tennessee?" 

'J'en  ai  de  ces  qros  navires  qui  naviquent  dessus  l'eau 
Et  soi-disant  pour  t'opposer  de  travailler. * 

Au  bout  de  trois  jours,  trois  lours  et  trois  semaines, 
0  la  belle  se  mit  a  pleurer  1' ennui  de  sa  famille. 

"Ne  pleure  done  pas,  la  belle,  je  t'acheterai  une  robe  de  soie 

jaune 

Ou'elle  soit  mais  la  couleur  de  l'or  et  de  l'arqent. " 


246 


"Je  ne  pleure  non  pas  ton  or,  ni  ton  or  nl  ton  argent. 
Mais  je  pleure  ma  famille  que  j'ai  laissee  la-bas. * 

*Je  t'ai  pas  toujours  dit.  la  belle,  et  quand  ce  batiment 

celerait. 

0  il  aurait  une  carlet  a  plus  .jamais  resourdre. 

"Dessus  l'ecore  du  Tennessee,  t 'embrasserais  ton  cher  et  petit 

bebe. 

0  tu  1* embrasserais  a  plus  jamais  le  revolr. * 

Vincent  and  Richard's  'Madame  Gallien*  seems  innocent  enough  at 

first  glance.  A  mother's  wishes  are  granted  when  her  daughter's  suitor 

asks  for  her  hand  in  marriage.  However,  in  Celtic  tradition,  troubled 

people  often  made  inadvertent  pacts  with  faeries  while  walking  down  a 

country  lane  wishing  aloud.  Madame  Gallien 's  concern  about  her  daughter 

in  the  beginning  could  be  due  to  a  variety  of  reasons,  some  innocent 

enough.  Daughters  were  formerly  expected  to  marry  in  order  of  age.  The 

unmarried  Josette  may  simply  have  been  holding  up  the  marrying  of  her 

younger  sisters,  there  is  also  the  possibility  that  Josette 's  honor  was 

in  question.  Whatever  the  case,  Madame  Gallien  seems  to  have  dealt  with 

spirits  to  obtain  the  marriage.  The  curious  little  fiddler  that  the 

wedding  party  meets  on  its  way  to  church  may  be  a  portent  of  things  to 

come.  Faerie  music  is  considered  an  evil  omen  in  Ireland  and  the  devil 

is  often  described  as  a  fiddler  in  popular  tradition.  The  wearing  out 

of  shoes  (searching,  dancing,  etc. )  is  also  frequently  associated  with 

demons. 

MADAME  GALLIEN  (28bi)  Lanese  Vincent  and  Sidney  Richard,  Kaplan 

Madame  Gallien  etait  promenant 

Dans  son  jardin,  son  coeur  bien  chagrin. 

Tout  le  long  d'une  allee, 
Elle  faisalt  gue  pleurer. 


2+7 


Touiours  en 

espere 

mt 

se 

Pierrot 

Grouillet 

pour 

marier. 

Pierrot 

Grouillet, 

11  est 

arrive. 

11  dit. 

"Josette, 

faut 

se 

marier. ■ 

Tout  chacun 

s'en  va  chez  sol 

Pour  laisser  savoir  a  tout, 

Danse,  sur  le  moment. 

Monsieur  le  cure  publiera  les  bans. 

Q  son  parrain,  11  la  consentant, 
II  dit,  "Moi,  ,1'irai  les  mener.  * 

Deux  vieux  boeufs.  deux  vieux  chevaux 

Atteles  sur  un  vieux  chariot 

Pour  aller  marier 

Pierrot  Grouillet  et  Mademoiselle  Josette. 

Dans  le  chemin,  lis  ont  fait  rencontre 

D'un  petit  bonhomme, 

Un  pied  chausse  et  1 'autre  nu. 

Son  violon  dans  son  bras, 

Son  archet  dans  sa  main, 

II  disait  qu'il  voulait  ,1ouer 

Jusqu'a  qu'il  n'ait  plus  de  souliers. 

In  addition  to  unaccompanied  tradition,  the  Lomaxes  also  recorded 

some  instrumental  music.  One  of  their  most  important  finds  vas  a 

flawless  fiddler  from  Indian  Bayou  named  Wayne  Perry.  Perry's 

repertoire  reflects  a  confluence  of  French  Cajun  and  Anglo-American 

traditions.  He  recorded  nameless  waltzes, 


CAJUN  WALTZ  (21b2)  Wayne  Perry,  Indian  Bayou 


two-steps, 


2^+8 


CAJUN  TWO-STEP  (21b3)  Wayne  Perry,  Indian  Bayou 

along  vith  Virginia  reels,  like  "Old  Joe  Clark, ■  and  popular  tunes, 
like  "Sitting  on  Top  of  the  World, "  clearly  influenced  by  Cajun 
tradition  and  the  blues. 

Although  the  Lomaxes  generally  avoided  the  musicians  who  were  being 
recorded  commercially,  they  did  make  one  exception  recording  a  dance  at 
the  White  Oak  club  in  New  Iberia  played  by  the  Segura  Brothers  of 
Delcambre.  Fiddler  Edier  Segura  was  a  powerful  and  soulful  singer  as 
demonstrated  in  his  recording  of  a  gallows  blues  lament,  "Viens  done 
t'assir  sur  la  croix  de  ma  tombe: ■ 

VIENS  DONC  T'ASSIR  SUR  LA  CROIX  DE  MA  TOMBE  (40a2)  Segura  Brothers, 

Delcambre 

Mon  pere  me  fait  dire  moi,  je  pourrais  plus  confesser  du  tout. 

J'ai  les  blues.  'Garde  done  la.  Moi,  .je  seras  apres  etre  mis 
dans  le  cercueil. 

Vendredi  passe,  quand  done  ils  m'ont  appele,  moi,  1'ai  vu  le 
chapelet  dans  mes  yeux. 

Ils  m'ont  dit  moi,  faut  je  vas  done  monter  dessus  la  potence 
de  toujours. 

Quand  j'ai  monte  dessus  la  potence,  moi,  j'ai  vu  la  seule 
petite  brune,  e'etait  devant  mes  yeux. 

Va  done  rouvert  done  mes  fosses  et  la  porte  du  cimetiere 

Pour  m'en  aller  dans  les  flammes  de  l'enfer  br~ler. 

Mmm,  je  gone  etre  plante  sur  la  montaqne  pour  toi, 

Et  trois  lours  apres  ma  mort,  viens  done  t'assir  sur  la  croix 
de  ma  tombe,  o  la  misere. 


249 


In  the  Jennings  area,  Lomax  found  two  migrant  black  Creole  farm 
hands  named  Paul  Junius  Malveaux  and  Ernest  Lafitte  who  recorded  songs 
accompanied  by  the  harmonica.  Although  relatively  unrecorded 
commercially,  this  instrument  was  popular  in  Cajun  and  Creole 
non-public  music.  Based  on  the  same  diatonic  scale  as  its  larger 
cousin,  the  accordion,  the  harmonica  could  be  used  to  play  most  of  the 
popular  dance  tunes.  Since  it  fit  conveniently  in  a  shirt  pocket,  it 
was  handy  for  filling  lunch  breaks  and  other  such  casual  moments  vith 
music.  "Bye-bye,  bonsoir.  mes  parents, "  is  a  version  of  Amede  Ardoin's 
"Orphan's  Waltz. " 

BYE-BYE.  BONSOIR.  MES  PARENTS  (85a2)  Paul  Junius  Malveaux  and  Ernest 

Lafitte,  Jennings 

Pis  bye-bye,  bonsoir,  mes  parents. 

Je  suis  orphelin  il  y  a  beaucoup  des  annees. 

Je  suis  oblige  de  prendre  ma  misere  comme  ca  vient,  cher  petit 

monde. 

Tes  parents,  il  y  en  a  plus  un  qui  veut  me  revoir. 

Quand  on  me  voit,  ca  m'appelle  trainailleur. 
Chaque  fois  quand  je  te  vols,  cher  petit  monde. 
On  dirait  qu'il  faudrait  que  moi,  m'en  vas 
Et  passer  devant  la  porte  de  ta  malson,  catin. 

Dans  cinq  ans,  je  vas  te  revoir  une  autre  fois,  cher  petit 

monde, 

Mais  avant  que  toi  tu  te  maries. 

La  apres,  tu  pourras  t'en  aller  puis  te  marier, 

Mais  quand  toi,  tu  pourras. 

It  is  difficult  to  tell  in  many  cases  whether  commercially  recorded 

music  entered  unaccompanied  tradition  or  was  drawn  from  it.  The 

beginning  of  Joseph  Jones'  'Blues  de  la  prison"  echos  almost  word  for 

word  Douglas  Bellard's  recording  of  "La  Valse  de  la  prison, *  both 

recorded  about  the  same  time. 


250 


BLUES  DE  LA  PRISON  (80al)  Joseph  Jones,  Jennings 

Tu  vas  souffert,  petite  fllle. 

Pour  ca  t'apres  me  faire, 

T' auras  jamais  de  bonheur  dans  ta  vie. 

Qui,  lour  aujourd'hui. 

Ma  chere  vieille  maman 

Dans  la  porte  de  la  prison. 

Les  deux  mains  sur  la  tete,  chere, 

Pleurant  pour  moi. 

01  J'ai  dit,  'Ma  maman, 

Pleure  pas  pour  moi. 

Demande  a  tes  amis  pour  t' aider 

Faire  des  prieres  pour  sauver  mon  ame 

De  les  flammes  de  l'enfer. 

01  Voir  aujourd'hui,  voir  aujourd'hui. 
J'ai  fini  de  te  voir, 

Fini  de  te  voir  sur  la  terre  du  Bon  Dieu. 
Good-bye,  petite  fille,  good-bye,  petite  fille. 
Pour  tout  mes  jours  et  tout  tes  tiens. * 
J'ai  dit,  "Fais  dire  aujourd'hui 
Que  j'apres  m'en  aller. 
Je  pars,  tu  connais.  * 

Dit,  "Mon  cher  monde,  'garde-le  voir. " 
0.  .. 

J'ai  dit,  "Viens  done  me  rejoindre 

La-bas  a  la  maison.  * 

Dit.  "C'est  moi  tout  tout  tout  seul. " 

Dit.  'C'est  voir  aulourd'hui  toi.  petite  fille. 

0  toi.  tete  noire. 

0  toi,  joues  roses.  * 

J'ai  dit,  "0  toi,  mignonne. 

Je  voudrais  que  tu  viens 

Donner  ta  chere  petite  main  droite 

Pour  nous  autres  s'en  aller, 

S'en  aller  a  la  maison  des  Moreau.  " 

0... 


J'ai  dit,  '0  chere  mignonne." 

Dit.  "Toi,  toi.  tete  noire. 

Voir  aujourd'hui 

Comment  loin, '  dit,  "t'es  de  moi. 

Je  voudrais, "  dit,  'tu  viens 

Done  me  rejoindre  a  la  maison, " 

Dit,  "toujours. 

0  toi,  mignonne, 

0  toi,  joues  roses. " 

J'ai  dit,  "0  toi,  tete  noire. 

0  toi,  tete  noire. " 

Dit,  "Voir  aulourd'hui 

Apres, "  dit,  "marcher, "  dit,  "les  chemins. 

Demande  a  tout  gu'est.  "  dit,  "parti  pour  voir  aulourd'hui. 

0  mignonne, 

0  mignonne. 

251 


Voir  aujourd'hui,  chere. 

Voir  comment  t'es. " 

Pit,  't'es  apres  t'en  aller. 

Tu  m'as  tourne  ton,  ton  cher  dos 

Pour  un  grand,  un  grand, "  dit,  'bonrien. 

0  je  voudrais, "  dit,  "tu  viens 

Tomber  dans  mes  bras, 

Demander  au  Bon  Dieu 

Pour  tu  donnes,  donnes, 

Donnes  pour  tes  chers.  "  dit,  "amours.  * 

0  chere  petite  fille. 

Quoi  faire  tu  fais 

Toutes  tes  promesses? 

Voir  aujourd'hui, 

T'as  pas  de  souvenir 

De  ca  tu  m'as  dit. 

0  voir  ton  pere  et  ta  mere 

Qu'a  tant  baiser  nous  autres, 

Baiser  nous  autres. 

0  ye  yaiei  0  ye  yaiet 

C'est  nous  autres,  chere  mignonne, 

0  chere  mignonne. 

Je  suis  apres  m'en  aller, 

ft" en  aller  tout  les  jours. 

Non,  ni  pere  et  mere 

Pour  soutenir  mes  pr'nes, 

Soutenir  me-s  prunes, 

Soutenir  mes  prunes. 

0  mignonne,  je  suis  apres,  petit  monde 

Moi,  m'en  aller, 

Q  m'en  aller, 

Aller  a  la  maison 

Pour  toujours  et  jamais, 

Ni  pere  et  mere, 

Ni  frere  et  soeur, 

Ni  frere  et  soeur, 

Pour  soutenir  mes  promesses. 

0  voir  aujourd'hui, 

C'est  tourner  done  mon  dos, ' 

Dit,  "a  ma  chere, '  dit,  "maman. ' 

Dit,  "a  mon  cher, "  dit,  "papa. " 

In  "La-bas  chez  Moreau, ■  another  blues  lament,  tvo  singers 

alternate  verses  of  irregular  lengths,  often  using  the  last  line  of  one 

verse  as  the  first  line  of  the  next.  The  language  of  the  first  is  Cajun 

French  as  spoken  on  the  prairies,  while  that  of  the  second  is  Creole, 

usually  associated  vith  the  eastern  bayou  regions.  The  Koreau  theme, 


252 


found  in  contemporary  commercial  recordings  of  Creole  music,  is 
developed  here  to  some  extent.  Moreau's  is  described  as  a  place  where 
one  could  get  coffee  and  candy,  but  it  is  doubtful  that  Moreau  actually 
sold  sweets  in  his  place.  In  the  blues,  candy  is  often  used  as  a 
euphemism  for  drugs  or  sex.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  Haitian 
creole,  the  term  kandia  refer  to  a  love  potion  or  charm,  and  in 
Malabars  Creole,  kandi  refers  to  a  rice  pudding  used  in  folk  medecine. 
The  story  line  which  laments  love  lost,  apparently  after  a  promise  of 
marriage,  is  further  complicated  by  the  mention  of  some  rather 
compromising  situations  associated  with  Moreau's  place.  The  young  man 
in  question  visits  the  girl  there  to  pick  up  his  clothes.  Later,  one  of 
the  singers  talk  of  drinking  coffee  there  before  getting  up  from  the 
bed.   Cafe  is  also  used  in  the  black  community  to  describe  a  certain 
skin  color  found  among  those  born  of  interracial  relationships.  The 
concern  for  someone  out  past  dark  is  based,  at  least  in  part,  on  the 
sundown  curfew  formerly  imposed  on  blacks.  Until  the  1960s  in  many 
places,  blacks  were  expected  to  be  home  by  sundown: 

LA-BAS  CHEZ  MOREAU  (81al)  Cleveland  Benoit  and  Darby  Hicks,  Jennings 

Some  of  the  most  exciting  material  in  the  Lomax  collection  is  jure 
singing,  a  black/French/Baptist  influenced  round  dance  tradition 
important  to  the  development  of  what  is  now  called  zarico.   Toward  the 
end  of  "Dego, ■  a  song  about  Italians  laying  sick  in  ditches  apparently 
from  having  eaten  the  rotten  bananas  laying  next  to  them,  recorded  in 
June,  1934,  Wilfred  Charles  of  New  Iberia  interspersed  a  few  lines 
about  unsalted  beans,  the  first  known  recording  of  the  expression,  "Les 


253 


haricots  sont  pas  sales, ■  which  is  said  to  have  given  the 
Afro-Caribbean  influenced  French  music  of  Louisiana  its  name.  The  last 
verse  may  contain  a  clue  to  the  socio-cultural  meaning  and  importance 
of  unsalted  beans.  In  it,  the  singer  explains  that  the  beans  are  not 
salty  because  there  is  no  salt  meat  in  the  pot,  a  reference  to  hard 
times.  Thus,  the  expression  and  its  derivative  term  function  in 
Louisiana  French  just  like  the  term  "blues"  in  American  English. 

DEGQ  (Hal)  Wilfred  Charles 

. . . tous  malades,  tous  couches  dans  les  grands  fosses. 
Bananes  sont  tous  pourries.  couchees  c'te  de  les  vieux  dagos. 
Eh.  tnon  Degol  Quoi  il  'n  a? 
Degos  sont  tous  malades,  tous  couches  dans  les  grands  fosses. 

Et  la-bas  dans  les  magasins,  ils  ont  'pluche  des  bananes. 

Les  bananes  sont  tous  pourries,  tous  couchees  dans  les  grands 

fosses. 

Dego.  guoi  il  'n  a?  0  Dego,  guoi  il  'n  a? 

Degos  sont  tous  malades,  couches  dans  les  grands  fosses. 

Galope  dans  les  magasins,  juste  pour  acheter  des  vieux 

bananes. 

Les  bananes  sont  tous  pourries,  tous  couchees  c'te  de  les 

Degos. 

Dego,  guoi  il  'n  a? 

Degos  sont  tous  malades,  tous  couches  dans  les  grands  fosses. 

Bananes  sont  tout  pourries,  couchees  c'te  de  les  vieux  Degos. 

Ahl  Mon  vieux  Dego,  guoi  il  'n  a?  Quoi  il  'n  a? 

Quoi  il  'n  a?  Quoi  il  'n  a  avec  les  Degos? 

Les  Degos  sont  tous  malades,  tous  couches  dans  les  grands 

fosses. 

Bananes  sont  tous  pourries,  couchees  c'te  de  les  vieux  Degos. 

Degol  0  Degol  Dego,  guoi  il  'n  a? 

Degos  sont  tous  malades,  tous  couches  dans  les  grands  fosses, 

Couches  c'te  de  les  vieux  Degos. 

Quoi  il  'n  a?  Quoi  il  'n  a  avec  ma  femme? 

Ma  femme,  elle  est  malade,  couchee  c'te  de  les  vieux  Degos. 

Dego. . .  Les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

Quoi  il  'n  a,  mon  cher  ami? 

Quoi  il  'n  a...  Les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 


254 


0  yaiei  0  mon  neqre!  Les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

Pas  mis  de  la  viande,  pas  mis  a  rien. 
Juste  des  haricots  dans  la  chaudiere. 
Les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

01  0  neqrel  Les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

Though  Wilfred  Charles'  solo  performance  bears  the  marks 
of  jure  singing,  in  full  swing  the  tradition  is  based  on  group  singing. 
"J'ai  fait  tou  le  tour  du  pays"  is  perhaps  the  best  example  of  the 
cultural  blending  vhich  produced  jure  singing.  The  lyrical  line  is 
based  on  "J'ai  fait  tout  le  tour  du  grand  bois, ■  an  old  French  Acadian 
folk  song,  but  the  style,  with  its  improvised  percussion  and  remarkable 
vocal  counterpoint,  is  clearly  Afro-Caribbean.  The  bridge  represents  a 
recurring  conversation  between  the  singer  who  asks  for  beans  to  eat  and 
his  mother  who  tells  him  that  the  beans  are  not  salty.  He  eventually 
asks  how  she  expects  him  to  eat  unsalted  beans.  The  bridge  also 
includes  a  fragmented  square  or  round  dance  call  ("....  'trape  done 
leurs  belles"),  suggesting  round  dance  origins. 

J'AI  FAIT  TOUT  LE  TOUR  DU  PAYS  (79al)  Jimmy  Peters  and  ring  dance 

singers,  Jennings 

0  mam,  mais  donnez-moi  les  haricots. 

0  ye  yaie,  les  haricots  sont  pas  sale. 

0  mam,  mais  donnez-moi  les  haricots. 

Mais  o  ye  yaie,  les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

J'ai  fait  tout  le  tour  du  pays 

Avec  ma  joque  sur  le  plombeau. 

Et  j'ai  demande  a  ton  pere  pour  dix-huit  piastres,  cherie. 

II  m'a  donne  que  cinq  piastres. 

0  mam,  mais  donnez-moi  les  haricots. 

Mais  o  cheri,  lee  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

0  mam,  mais  donnez-moi  les  haricots. 

Mais  o  ye  yaie,  les  haricots  sont  pss  sales. 


255 


Toi.  comment  tu  veux  je  te  vas  voir 
Mais  quand  mon  chapeau  rouge  est  fini. 
Tol.  comment  tu  veux  le  te  vas  voir 
Mais  quand  mon  suit  est  tout  dechire. 

0  mam,  mais  donnez-moi  les  haricots. 

Mais,  o  ye  yaie.  les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

J'ai  fait  tout  le  tour  du  pays 

Avec  ma  joque  sur  le  plombeau. 

J'ai  demande  a  ton  pere  pour  dix  piastres. 

II  m'a  donne  que  cinq. 

Mais,  o  ye  yaie.  les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

0  mam,  mais  donnez-moi  les  haricots. 

Mais,  o  ye  yaie.  les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

Comment  done  tu  veux,  mais,  manger? 

Mais,  o  ye  yaie.  les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

0  mam,  mais  donnez-moi  les  haricots. 

Mais,  o  ye  yaie.  les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

Comment  tu  veux  je  te  vas  voir 
Quand  mon  chapeau  rouge  est  fini? 
Comment  tu  veux  je  te  vas  voir 
Quand  mon  suit  est  tout  dechire? 

0  mam,  mais  donnez-moi  les  haricots. 
Mais,  o  cheri,  les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 
Mais  o  mam,  mais  'trape  done  leurs  belles. 
Mais  o  mam,  mais  'trape  done  leurs  belles. 

Comment  tu  veux  je  te  vas  voir 

Mais  quand  mon  suit  est  tout  dechire? 

Comment  tu  veux  je  te  vas  voir 

Mais  quand  mon  chapeau  rouge  est  fini? 

0  mam,  mais  donnez-moi  les  haricots. 

0  Nenaine.  mais  donnez-moi  les  haricots. 

Mais  o  mam,  les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

Mais  o  mam,  mais  'trape  done  leurs  belles. 

0  mam,  les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

Mais  o  ye  yaie.  mais  comment  done  ie  vas  faire? 

J'ai  fait  tout  le  tour  du  pays 

Avec  ma  joque  sur  le  plombeau. 

J'ai  demande  a  mon  pere  pour  dix  piastres. 

II  m'a  donne  gue  cing. 

Q  ye  yaie,  mais  comment  done  je  vas  faire? 
Mais  o  maman,  les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 


256 


Mais  o  ye  yaie,  mais  donnez-moi  les  haricots. 
0  mam,  les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

The  baptist  roots  of  lure  singing  are  especially  clear  in  Creole 

renditions  of  jubilee  standards  like  the  funeral  shout  "Rockaway,  ■  and 

"God's  Army, ■  a  f ire-and-brimstone  plea  for  repentance  sung  in  an 

Afro-Caribbean  call-and-response  format.  The  frenzied  bilingual  lead 

vocals  and  hypnotically  repetitive  chorus  line,  driven  by  foot-stomping 

which  sounds  for  the  world  like  African  drums,  go  beyond  jubilee  and 

gospel  tradition  to  approach  the  sound  and  style  of  ritual  voodoo 

possession  chants. 

FEEL  LIKE  DYING  IN  HIS  ARMY  (lllal)  Austin  Coleman,  Washington  and 

Sampson  Brown,  Jennings 

Refrain  after  each  line:  Feel  like  dying  in  His  army. 

0  Lord,  Lord,  Lord,  my  God. 

0  oui,  mon  cher  ami,  o  quoi  tu  vas  faire? 

0  quoi  tu  vas  faire,  comment,  hein,  petit  monde? 

0  oui,  ma  petite,  si  to  pries  pas. 

0  si  to  pries  pas,  tu  vas  bruler  dans  l'enfer. 

0  Lord,  Lord,  Lord,  Lord,  my  Lord. 

0  oui  ma  petite,  si  toi  pries  pas. 

0  mo  voye  apres,  o,  mon  docteur. 

0  mon  docteur,  li  vini  la. 

0  li  dit,  "Mon  petit,  to  va  pas  vi. " 

0  Lord,  Lord,  Lord,  Lord,  what  you  gon  do? 

0  sinner  woman,  you  better  pray. 

0  sinner  woman,  you  better  pray. 


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0  oui  mon  petit,  si  to  pries  pas. 

Q  si  to  pries  pas,  tu  vas  br~ler  dans  l'enfer. 

0  Lord,  Lord,  Lord,  Lord,  what  you  gon  do? 

0  Lord,  Lord,  Lord,  Lord,  what  you  gon  do? 

0  what  you  gon  do  when  I'm  dead  and  gone? 

0  what  you  gon  do  when  I'm  dead  and  gone? 

0  quoi  tu  vas  faire  quand  je  suis  dead  et  mouru? 

0  cher  ami,  cher  ami. 

0  lalalilalilalalalalala. 

0  Lord,  Lord,  Lord,  Lord,  Lord,  Lord,  Lord. 

0  sinner  woman,  you  better  pray. 

0  Lord,  Lord,  quoi  tu  dis? 

0  quoi  tu  vas  faire  quand  je  vas  etre  mouru? 

The  cultural  renaissance  which  began  after  World  War  II,  led  by 
musicians  like  Iry  Lejeune  and  politicians  like  Dudley  LeBlanc, 
rejoined  traditional  and  popular  cultures  in  a  tacit  compromise  which 
endures  today.  A  growing  number  of  young  musicians  have  actively  sought 
to  revive  old  sounds  by  visiting  the  oldest  musicians  and  listening  to 
early  78s.  On  several  of  the  Lomax  discs,  the  collectors  included 


258 


announcements  to  effect  that  the  recordings  they  were  making  were  going 
to  be  placed  in  the  Library  of  Congress  where  they  would  always  be 
available  for  musicians  and  others  to  learn  about  America's  heritage  of 
folk  music.  USL's  Folklore  &  Folklife  Program  recently  acquired  a  copy 
of  the  Lomax  collection  with  funds  generated  by  the  annual  Cajun  Music 
Festival  and  plans  a  double  album  of  selected  recordings  from  the 
collection.  All  this  is  designed  to  bring  this  remarkable  resource  back 
home  so  that  it  will  be  available  to  those  interested  in  learning  and 
understanding  Cajun  and  Creole  music. 


259 


ZARICO:  BEANS,  BLUES  AND  BEYOND 
Barry  Jean  Ancelet 

Like  the  blues  and  jazz,  rock  and  reggae,  zarico  is  the  result  of 
a  typically  American  experience  which  blended  European  (primarily 
French,  but  also  Spanish,  German  and  English),  native  American  and 
Afro-Caribbean  musical  traditions (1 ).  The  American  colonial  context  was 
basic  to  the  development  of  these  hybrid  music  forms.  Nothing  quite 
like  them  developed  in  Europe  where  direct  contact  with  African  culture 
is  rare  and  exotic.  In  Africa,  the  closest  parallel  is  the  high-life 
tradition,  born  of  the  influence  of  the  colonial  French  on  native 
African  culture.  In  America,  both  European  and  African  cultures  were 
far  from  home,  on  new  ground.  Settlers  and  slaves  learned  some  old  ways 
from  each  other  and  made  up  lots  of  new  ways  for  themselves  as  they 
carved  out  a  new  world  on  the  frontier. 

Zarico,  zydeco,  zodico,  zoloqo.  and  even  zukey  jump  represent  a 
few  of  the  spellings  used  by  folklorists,  ethnomusicologists,  record 
producers  and  filmmakers  in  their  attempts  to  transcribe  the  word 
performers  use  to  describe  Louisiana's  black  French  Creole  music.  The 
word  creole,  which  originally  meant  simply  •native  or  homegrown,  not 
imported, ■  served,  among  other  things,  to  distinguish  "esclaves 
africains"  from  the  more  valuable  "esclaves  Creoles. "  In  South 
Louisiana,  the  Frenchlanguage  is  an  important  cultural  identity  marker. 
French-speaking  blacks  called  themselves  "Creoles  noirs"  to  distinguish 
themselves  from  French-speaking  whites,  who  might  be  either  "Creoles 
frangais"  or  "Cadiens, "  and  from  English-speaking  blacks  who  were 


261 


called  "negres  americains. "  Black  Creoles  speak  either  "francais"  or 
"creole. ■ 

Because  its  language  is  often  French  or  Creole,  zarico  tradition 
has  largely  remained  a  mystery  to  outsiders.  Native  Louisiana  Creoles 
explain  that  the  word  comes  from  les  haricots  because  of  the 
expression,  "Les  haricots  sont  pas  sales"  ("The  beans  aren't  salty" ), 
heard  in  traditional  songs.  The  form  zydeco  was  the  first  one  to  appear 
in  print.  It  was  first  used  by  ethnomusicologist  MacCormack  in  the 
early  1960s  and  is  the  most  widespread--Chris  Strachwitz's 
California-based  Arhoolie  Records  and  most  other  record  companies  favor 
it.  This  spelling  comes  from  an  Anglo-American  attempt  to  render  the 
flapped  "r"  in  "les  haricots. "  The  "z"  sound  would  then  come  from  the 
liaison  with  the  "s"  of  "les"  as  in  "les  hommes. "  Although  contemporary 
French  frowns  on  the  liaison  because  of  haricot's  aspirate  "h, ■  Cajun 
French  preserves  the  former  pronunciation  of  "haricots"  without  the 
aspirate  "h. " 

So  then,  what's  in  a  name?  Sometimes  that  depends  on  how  you  spell 
it.  Quebecois  filmmaker  Andre  Gladu  drew  criticism  from  Strachwitz  for 
entitling  his  recent  film  on  Louisiana  black  Creole  music,  "Zarico. " 
Strachwitz  maintained  that  the  standard  spelling  of  the  term  is  zydeco, 
and  that  derivations  unnecessarily  cloud  the  issue  and  the  dilute  the 
potential  for  interest.  Gladu  claimed  this  was  a  colonialistic  foul  and 
countered  with  the  explanation  that  zydeco  is  based  on  superimposed 
English  phonetics,  while  'zarico'  respects  the  tradition's  own  French 
language  connection.  Ironically  this  connection  is  the  result  of  an 
earlier  colonial  influence.  Thus,  the  politics,  not  to  mention  the 


262 


economics,  of  culture  spilled  over  into  the  realm  of  linguistics.  The 
debate  over  whether  to  spell  the  term  according  to  precedent  or  to 
perceived  cultural  appropriateness  continues.  The  question  is 
complicated  further  by  the  recent  discovery  of  apparent  African 
influences  vhich  may  need  to  be  taken  into  account. 

Folk  spellings  and  folk  etymologies  often  develop  to  explain  or 
rationalize  words  and  expressions  whose  origins  or  exact  meaning  have 
become  unclear.  The  attempts  of  folks  to  make  sense  of  a  term  which  has 
strayed,  for  one  reason  or  another,  from  its  original  usage  often  yield 
related,  though  indirectly  connected  meanings,  much  like  "taking 
something  for  granted"  has  become  for  many  "taking  something  for 
granite. "  In  South  Louisiana,  the  name  given  to  the  nocturnal 
witch-rider,  Couche-mal,  literally  "to  sleep  poorly, "  is  a  similar 
adaptation  of  cauchemar,  French  for  "nightmare. " 

In  the  same  way,  words  sometimes  survived  the  efforts  of  ante 
bellum  planters  to  eliminate  African  languages  among  their  slaves.  In 
Louisiana  French  Creole  animal  tales,  for  example,  the  dupe  of  Lapin 
(the  rabbit)  is  named  Bouki.  The  word  bouki  is  Ouolof  for  "hyena, " 
traditionally  the  hare's  dupe  in  West  African  animal  tales.  I  have 
never  found  anyone  in  South  Louisiana  who  knew  the  original  meaning  of 
bouki,  yet  the  term  has  survived  and  been  extended  to  cover  generally 
any  foolish  person.  Another  African  survival,  gumbo,  is  still  used  in 
its  original  sense  to  refer  to  okra,  but  also  has  come  to  mean  the 
soupy  dish  it  is  used  to  make.  Similarly,  conqo  cane  to  mean  "dark"  or 
"black"  in  Louisiana  French  by  association  with  the  slaves  who  came 
from  that  area  of  Africa.  The  popular  Cajun  song  "Allons  danser, 


263 


Colinda, ■  in  which  the  singer  exhorts  a  young  lady  named  Colinda  to 

dance  with  him  while  her  mother  is  not  around,  is  a  borrowing  from 

Creole  tradition.  The  calinda  was  an  African  dance  slaves  performed 

despite  the  interdictions  of  their  masters. 

The  explanation  that  zarico  comes  from  the  expression  "Les 

haricots  sont  pas  sales"  was  generally  "taken  for  granite"  by 

musicians,  record  producers  and  scholars,  myself  included.  Recently, 

however,  while  listening  to  examples  of  Creole  music  collected  by 

French  ethnomusicologist  Jean-Pierre  LaSelve  on  Rodrigue,  a  remote 

island  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  I  was  intrigued  to  hear  the  following  song, 

"Cari  zarico, "  a  group  song  accompanied  by  clapping  hands,  stamping 

feet,  drums  and  a  triangle. 

Idee  moi,  idee  toi,  Azeline. 
Cari  zarico. 

Quand  la  lune  fe  s6qa  mouline. 
Cari  zarico. (2) 

Loosely  translated:  "I'm  thinking  what  you're  thinking,  pretty  girl. 

Hot  bean  soup.  When  the  moon  dances  the  sega,  we'll  harvest.  Hot  bean 

soup. "  It  seems  safe  to  assume  that  bean  soup  was  not  uppermost  on  the 

singer's  mind,  yet  the  singers  use  the  expression  "cari  zarico"  as  a 

repetitive,  seemingly  unrelated  chorus  throughout  the  song.  When  I 

asked  LaSelve  about  this,  he  told  me  that  singing  about  beans  was  part 

of  a  musical  tradition  called  "sega  zarico"  which  exists  on  Rodrigue 

and  several  other  Creole-speaking  islands  in  the  Indian  Ocean.  The 

traditional  dance  associated  with  this  music  re-enacts  the  planting  of 

beans,  the  woman  walking  backwards  pretending  to  make  a  hole  with  her 

heel  and  the  man  walking  toward  her,  placing  an  imaginary  seed  in  the 

hole  and  covering  it  with  his  foot.  The  obvious  connection 


264 


between  beans  and  dance,  harvest  and  fertility  rituals  among  Indian 

Ocean  Creoles  led  me  to  believe  that  a  look  beyond  the  surface  of  the 

Louisiana  Creole  zarico  tradition  might  prove  interesting. 

Louisiana  Creole  and  Rodrigue  Creole  cultures  share  similar 

origins  and  development  patterns.  They  were  both  colonized  by  French 

planters  in  the  18th  century.  The  first  slaves  brought  to  the  Indian 

Ocean  islands  were  not  from  nearby  East  Africa,  but  from  the  west 

coast,  the  same  area  exploited  for  the  American  slave  trade.  Both 

cultures  speak  closely  related  varieties  of  French-based  Creole.  Both 

share  preoccupations  derived  from  a  common  heritage,  such  as  the 

setting  sun  and  the  rising  moon,  stemming  both  from  harvest  rituals  and 

ordinances  which  forbad  slaves  to  be  away  from  the  plantation  after 

dark.  From  Rodrigue,  we  hear: 

Soleil  couche,  maman,  la  lune  leve  no  alle. 
0  he  la  saison  la. 

La  saison,  la  saison,  la  saison  la  no  alle. 
0  he  la  saison  la... (3) 

and  from  Louisiana: 

0  soleil  apres  coucher, 

0  la  lune  apres  lever. 

Mmm,  mon  neqre  est  pas  arrive. 

Mmm,  malheureux,  neqre, 
0  c'est  malheureux. . . 

0  mais  quinze  jours  passes, 
0  les  promesses  tu  m'as  fait, 
0  chere  amie,  mon  neqre. 

0  soleil  ape  coucher 

Toi  connais  la  promesse  tu  me  fais  moi 

Sur  un  jeudi  soir  qui  passe. 

0  la  lune  apres  lever, 

0  soleil  apres  coucher, 

Mmm,  la-bas  chez  Horeau. 

0  cherche  ton  candi  neqre. . . ( 4 ) 


265 


In  Louisiana,  instrumental  dance  bands  play  waltzes  and  two-steps.  In 
Rodrigue,  they  play  waltzes  and  segas.  But  in  both  cultures,  they  are 
built  around  an  accordion,  a  fiddle  and  a  triangle.  Since  they  share  so 
many  elements,  it  is  at  least  plausible  that  their  preoccupation  with 
beans  is  more  than  coincidental. 

The  languages  of  West  African  tribes  affected  by  the  slave  trade 
provide  some  clues  as  to  the  origins  of  zarico.  In  at  least  a  dozen 
languages  from  this  culture  area  of  Africa,  the  phonemes  "za, ■  "re, ■ 
and  "go"  are  frequently  associated  with  dancing  and/or  playing  (music), 
most  notably  among  the  Yula  where  "a  zare*  means  "I  dance. "(5)  It  does 
not  require  stretching  linguistics  very  far  to  find  a  possible 
connection  between  the  roots  "za"  and  "r("  and  the  proverbial 
expression  concerning  unsalted  snapbeans,  even  if  the  recurring  refrain 
about  "les  haricots*  took  the  older  sounds,  no  longer  understood,  and 
distorted  them  into  more  familiar,  intelligible  words,  changing  their 
denotation  while  preserving  their  connotation. 

In  South  Louisiana,  the  meaning  of  zarico  has  expanded  (or 

survived)  to  refer  to  dance  as  a  social  event  and  dance  styles  as  well 

as  the  music  associated  with  them(6):  Creoles  go  to  a  zarico  to  dance 

the  zarico  to  zarico  music  played  by  zarico  musicians.  The  term  is  used 

to  exhort  dancers,  as  in  the  opening  of  Clifton  Chenier's  'Les  zaricos 

sont  pas  sales: " 

Clifton:  He,  toi.  Tout  quelque  chose  est  correct? 
Cleveland:  C'est  bon  boy. 

Clifton:  Tout  quelque  chose  est  traqnifique,  hein? 
Cleveland:  0  ouais.  Qui  toi  veux  dire  avec  ca? 
Clifton:  Allons  les  haricots  (zarico),  neqrel 
Cleveland:  Allons  couri  a  la  ye(7) 

If  zarico,  or  haricots,  means  only  beans,  then  this  sentence  is  not 


266 


grammatically  sound:  "Let's  go  the  beans."  Yet  neither  Clifton  Chenier 

nor  most  of  his  Creole  compatriots  are  in  the  habit  of  speaking 

nonsense.  Used  in  this  expanded  way,  as  a  verb,  zarico  seems  to  have 

other  meanings:  "Let's  zarico  them;"  or  "Let's  go  zarico."  One 

connotation  seems  to  be  associated  generally  with  Creole  music  and 

dancing.  There  are  many  examples  of  this  usage,  including  "Nous  va 

zarico, *  and  'Zarico  toute  la  nuit, "  or  in  English,  "Zarico,  baby!" 

"Zarico  dovnl"  and  "We  gonna  zarico  all  night  long."  Community 

musicians  are  described  as  zarico  kings,  queens  and  princes.  Community 

dance  events,  which  provide  the  primary  opportunity  for  courtship,  are 

announced  as  zaricos.  Dance  events  are  also  referred  to  as  "la-la's"  or 

simply  French  dances,  to  distinguish  black  Creole  events  from  disco  or 

soul  parties. 

Based  on  "Hip  et  Taiau, "  a  French  Acadian  folksong  about  two 

thieving  dogs,  Clifton's  version  continues  to  tell  basically  the  same 

story,  but  adds  the  seemingly  unrelated  bridges  about  unsalted  beans: 

0  Momma  1 

Quoi  elle  va  faire  avec  le  neqre. 


Les  haricots  est 

pas  sales. 

Les  haricots  est 

pas  sales. 

T'as  vole  mon  tra 

ineau. 

T'as  vole  mon  tra 

ineau. 

'Garde 

les 

Hip 

et 

Taiau. 

'Garde 

les 

Hip 

et 

Taiau. 

'Garde 

les 

Hip 

et 

Taiau. 

'Garde 

les 

Hip 

et 

Taiau. (7) 

The  occurence  of  the  expression,  'Les  haricots  sont  pas  sales, "  in 
the  seemingly  unrelated  bridges  of  many  Louisiana  Creole  songs  from  the 
Lomax  collection  as  well  as  in  modern  zarico  music  suggests  origins 
beyond  its  functional  folk  etymology.  In  a  1934  Lomax  recording,  Wilbur 


267 


Charles,  a  Creole  migrant  farm  worker,  concludes  an  unusual  song,  again 
borrowed  from  French  Acadian  tradition,  about  Italians  lying  in  ditches 
apparently  ill  from  having  eaten  rotten  bananas  with  the  following 


verses: 


Quoi  il  'n  a?  Quoi  il  'n  avec  ma  femme? 

Ma  femme.  elle  est  malade.  couchee  cflte  des  les  vieux  Deqos. 

Deqo. 

Les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 


Quoi 

il 

'n  a, 

mon 

cher 

ami? 

Quoi 
Les 

il  'n  a? 

haricots 

sont 

pas 

sales. 

0  ya 

lei 

0  mon 

neqrel 

Les 

har: 

Lcots 

sont 

pas 

sales. 

Pas  mis  de  la  viande,  pas  mis  a  rien. 
Juste  des  haricots  dans  la  chaudiere. 
Les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. (8) 

The  beans  are  unsalty  because  the  cook  has  no  meat  to  add  to  the 

pot.  Before  the  days  of  free-running  table  salt,  the  most  common  way  of 

salting  sauces,  soups  and  beans  was  to  add  salt  meat.  Families  too  poor 

to  afford  salt  meat,  ate  unsalted  beans.  "Les  haricots  sont  pas  sales,  " 

then,  refers  to  hard  times  and,  by  association,  to  the  music  that 

helped  to  endure  them.  In  black  American  tradition,  this  music  is 

called  the  blues,  whether  it  be  a  "low-down"  blues  lament  which 

relieves  by  purging  or  a  jumping,  juking  blues  which  relieves  by 

distracting,  as  in  the  lively  song  by  Delton  Broussard  and  the  Lawtell 

Playboys  about  a  condemned  man  standing  at  the  door  of  his  aunt's  house 

and  asking  her  to  pray  for  him  to  help  save  his  soul  from  the  flames  of 

hell: 


268 


J'ai  coqne  a  la  porte. 

J'ai  crie,  "Hello. ' 

Elle  dit,  "Qui  c'est  qu'est  la?" 

J'ai  dit,  "C'est  ton  neveux. ' 

Elle  dit.  "Qui  c'est  tu  veux?" 

J'ai  dit,  "Priez  pour  moi. 

Je  suis  condamne 

Pour  la  balance  de  mes  jours. 

Priez  pour  moi. 

Sauvez  mon  £me. 

Je  suis  condamne 

Pour  les  flammes  d'enfer. ■ ( 9 ) 

■Zarico"  in  Louisiana  French,  like  "blues"  in  American  English, 

describes  hard  times  and  the  music  which  expresses  them  and  eases  the 

pain.  Zarico's  bluesy  side  is  sometimes  based  on  melodies  and  rhythms 

which  resemble  delta  blues  tradition.  Other  times,  as  in  Canray 

Fontenot's  "Barres  de  la  prison, "  in  3/4  time,  an  interesting 

confluence  of  European  and  Afro-Caribbean  rhythms  and  sources  produces 

haunting  songs  which  function  equally  well  as  blues  laments  and  as 

waltzes. 

Goodbye,  chere  vieille  Mam. 
Goodbye,  pauvre  vieux  Pap. 
Goodbye  a  mes  freres 
Et  mes  cheres  petites  soeurs. 
Hoi,  1'ai  ete  condamne 
Pour  la  balance  de  ma  vie 
Dans  les  prison. 

Moi,  1'ai  roule 

Je  m'ai  mis  a  malfaire. 

J'avais  la  tete  dure. 

J'ai  rentre  dans  le  tracas. 

Asteur,  je  suis  condamne 

Pour  la  balance  de  ma  vie 

Dans  les  barres  de  la  prisn. 

Ma  chere  vieille  maman, 

Elle  s'a  mis  dessus  ses  qenoux, 

Ses  deux  mains  sur  la  tete 

En  priant  pour  moi. 

Elle  fait,  "Mmmmm, 

Cher  petit  qarcon, 

Moi,  je  vas  jamais  te  revoir. 

Toi,  t'as  ete  condamne 

Pour  la  balance  detavie 


269 


Dans  les  barres  de  la  prison. 

J'ai  dit,  'Chere  vieille  maman, 
Pleure  pas  pour  moi. 
Faut  tu  pries  pour  ton  enfant 
Pour  essayer  de  sauver  son  3me 
De  les  flammes  de  l'enfer. * (10) 

An  important  step  in  the  development  of  what  is  now  called  zarico 

was  jure  tradition,  recorded  in  Louisiana  by  Alan  Lomax  during  1934. 

The  Louisiana  Creole  counterpart  of  French  Acadian  'danses  rondes"  and 

Anglo-American  play  party  songs,  these  unaccompanied  group  songs 

resemble  the  Rodriguais  sega  zaricos  in  style  and  beat  as  veil  as  in 

the  frequent,  seemingly  unrelated  reference  to  beans  in  the  chorus  or 

bridge.  Jures,  derived  from  the  French  word  for  "sworn, "  or 

"testified, "  are  the  Louisiana  French  parallel  for  shouts  and 

spirituals  resulting  from  the  blending  of  Afro-Caribbean, 

French-Acadian  and  southern  Protestant  traditions( 11).  Some  texts  were 

religious,  as  in  the  case  of  "Feel  Like  Dying  in  His  Army, "  a  bilingual 

recording  made  by  Lomax  in  1934: 

0  Lord,  Lord,  Lord,  my  God. 

Feel  like  dying  in  His  army. 
Q  oui,  mon  cher  ami,  o  quoi  tu  vas  faire? 

Feel  like  dying  in  His  army. 
Q  quoi  tu  vas  faire,  comment,  hein,  petit  monde? 

Feel  like  dying  in  His  army. 
0  oui,  ma  petite,  si  to  pries  pas. 

Feel  like  dying  in  His  army. 
0  si  to  pries  pas  tu  vas  brQler  dans  l'enfer. 

Feel  like  dying  in  His  army... (12) 

Others  were  secular,  adapting  the  story  line  of  French-Acadian 
folk  songs  to  a  highly  sycopated  Afro-Creole  style(13),  as  in  the  case 
of  Clifton  Chenier's  "Les  haricots  sont  pas  sales, "  and  of  several 
Lomax  recordings,  like  "Je  veux  me  marier,  je  peux  pas  trouver, ■  based 


270 


on  "Je  veux  me  marier.  mais  les  poules  pendent  pas"; 

Je  veux  me  marier, 

Je  peux  pas  trouver, 

0,  c'est  malheureux. 

Je  veux  me  marier, 

Je  peux  pas  trouver, 

Mais  comment  done  je  vas  faire. 

Je  veux  me  marier. 
Je  peux  pas  trouver, 
Mais  Mam  et  Pap  veut  pas. 
Je  veux  me  marier. 
Je  peux  pas  trouver, 
Mais  o,  c'est  malheureux. 

Je  veux  me  marier. 

J'ai  pas  d'arqent, 

J'ai  pas  de  souliers. 

Mais  o.  c'est  malheureux. 

Comment  done 

Tu  veux  moi,  je  fais. 

Mais  comme  un  pauvre  miserable. . . ( 14 ) 

Jure  singers  provided  dance  music  during  times  like  Lent  or 
official  mourning  periods  when  instrumental  music  was  forbidden,  or 
whenever  musicians  couldn't  be  found  or  afforded.  Lomax  called  jure 
style  "the  most  African  sound  I  found  in  America. ■  The  singers  are 
accompanied  only  by  improvised  percussion  (stamping  feet,  clapping 
hands,  spoons  rubbed  on  corrugated  washboards...),  with  a  vocal 
counterpoint. 

Sexuality  is  a  common  feature  in  African  tradition  and  survives  in 
Afro-American  cultural  expression.  "Jazz"  and  "rock"  which  describe 
other  related  Afro-American  musical  styles  originally  were  euphemisms 
for  making  love  in  the  black  oral  tradition. ( 15)  The  connection  between 
music,  dance  and  sexuality  may  give  additional  clues  to  the  origins  and 
meaning  of  zarico.  In  "J'ai  fait  tout  le  tour  du  pays, "  based  on  the 
French  Acadian  "J'ai  fait  tout  le  tour  du  grand  bois, "  the  story  line 


271 


concerns  a  frustrated  young  lover  who  cannot  visit  his  sweetheart 

because  he  is  poor  (his  clothes  are  tattered,  his  horse  is  sickly...), 

but  the  bridge  is  another  of  those  complaints  about  unsalted  beans.  If 

one  considers  that  "zarico"  has  possible  roots  in  fertility  rituals, 

however,  a  relationship  appears  between  the  bridge  and  the  verses  which 

describe  frustration  in  courtship. 

J'ai  fait  tout  le  tour  du  pays 

Avec  ma  ioque  au  plombeau 

Et  j'ai  demande  a  ton  pere  pour  dix-huit  piastres,  cherie. 

II  m'a  donne  que  cinq  piastres. 

0  Mam,  mais  donnez-moi  les  haricots. 

Mais  o  cheri.  les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

0  Mam,  mais  donnez-moi  les  haricots. 

Mais  o  ye  yaie,  les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

Toi,  comment  tu  veux  le  te  vas  voir 
Mais  quand  mon  chapeau  rouge  est  fini. 
Toi,  comment  tu  veux  le  te  vas  voir 
Mais  quand  mon  suit  est  tout  dechire. 

0  Mam,  mais  donnez-moi  les  haricots. 

Mais  o  ye  yaie,  les  haricots  sont  pas  sales. 

J'ai  fait  tout  le  tour  du  pays 

Avec  ma  Ioque  sur  le  plombeau. 

J'ai  demande  a  ton  pere  pour  dix  piastres. 

II  m'a  donne  que  cinq. ... ( 16 ) 

Jure  and  zarico  may  be  even  more  directly  linked  to  courtship--and 

its  results.  The  Rodrigue  dance  tradition  described  earlier  is 

obviously  associated  with  fertility  rituals.  In  ante  bellum  Louisiana, 

part  of  the  planters'  systematic  efforts  to  eradicate  their  slaves' 

African  heritage  included  outlawing  slave  dances  like  the  calinda.  The 

pretext  that  they  were  lascivious  was  not  entirely  unfounded,  however. 

Descriptions  of  these  dances  suggest  that  they  may  have  been  associated 

with  African  fertility  rituals. (17)  Contemporary  black  Creole  dance 

styles  associated  with  zarico  are  often  considered  suggestive,  to  say 


2?2 


the  least,  by  Cajun  and  Anglo-American  observers.  Zarico  lyrics  are 
often  more  than  suggestive.  It  doesn't  take  blues  scholars  long  to 
figure  out  the  sexual  metaphors  in  such  songs  as  Blind  Lemon 
Jefferson's  "Black  Snake  Blues. "  Nor  is  there  much  doubt  about  the 
meaning  of  Canray  Fontenot's  'Joe  Pitre  a  deux  femmes. *  Buckwheat 
Zydeco's  "Give  Me  a  Good  Time  Woman,"  Boozoo  Chavis'  "I'm  Going  to  Dog 
Hill"  ("where  the  pretty  women're  at"),  and  Clifton  Chenier's  "I'm  a 
Hog  for  You,  Baby"  ("rooting,  rooting  around  your  door").  Much  of 
Afro-American  expressive  culture  features  double-entendre  and  sexual 
imagery,  often  using  foods  as  euphemisms  for  female  sexual  organs 
(e.g.,  cabbage,  cookie,  cake,  jelly  roll,  shortening  bread). (18) 

There  is  an  unmistakable  tendency  toward  soul  and  rhythm-and-blues 
among  contemporary  Louisiana  Creole  musicians.  Yet  the  same  band 
leaders  who  insist  on  singing  English  lyrics  and  adding  saxophones, 
trumpets  and  electric  guitars  in  their  groups  demonstrate  their  deep 
understanding  of  the  essential  tradition  when  they  play  what  they 
sometimes  call  "du  vrai  zarico.  "  After  receiving  a  Grammy  in  1984, 
Clifton  Chenier,  commented,  "Soul  didn't  get  me  that  Grammy. 
Rock-and-roll  didn't  get  me  that  Grammy.  Zarico  got  me  that  Grammy. " 
Whether  he's  in  a  local  dance  hall  or  on  the  main  stage  of  a  major 
festival,  he  never  fails  to  include  some  of  the  "real  stuff"  which 
features  his  brother  Cleveland  on  frottoir  and  Robert  St.  Judy  on 
drums.  The  rest  of  the  Red  Hot  Louisiana  Band  drops  out  while  Clifton 
and  the  percussionists  beat  out  a  jumping  rhythm.  Clifton  transforms 
his  accordion  into  a  melodic  drum,  using  it  almost  like  an  African 
thumb  piano.  The  "real  stuff  is  marked  by  exclusively  French  vocals 


273 


and  a  percussive  frenzy  which  clearly  reveal  that  the  style  originated 
in  the  cultural  creolization  of  Afro-Caribbean  and  Franco-American 
traditions. 

Whatever  its  linguistic  origins,  zarico  is,  like  the  blues  and 
rock  and  roll,  a  product  of  the  American  blending  process  with  a  strong 
African  base.  But  like  its  fellow  Louisiana  product,  jazz,  zarico  has 
an  important  French  element.  A  few  years  ago,  Alan  Lomax  predicted  that 
zarico  could  become  as  big  as  reggae,  another  result  of  the 
creolization  process.  At  the  time,  I  found  that  hard  to  believe  because 
of  the  language  barrier  of  hard-core  zarico.  Yet,  a  gradual  drift 
towards  English  lyrics  has  occurred,  especially  over  the  last  decade, 
as  the  tradition  is  adopted  by  younger  Creoles  who  speak  less  and  less 
French.  Beyond  South  Louisiana,  Queen  Ida's  1982  Grammy,  Clifton 
Chenier's  1984  Grammy  for  "I'm  Here,"  (his  most  English-oriented  album 
to  date)  and  Rocking  Sidney's  1986  Grammy  for  "Don't  Mess  With  My  Toot 
Toot"  have  lots  of  folks,  from  Patti  LaBelle  and  Fats  Domino  to  John 
Fogarty  and  Paul  Simon,  interested  in  zarico. 

Of  course,  what  pop  zarico  for  national  consumption  gains  in 
understandability,  it  loses  in  other  important  areas,  including  contact 
with  its  French  elements  and  intangibles  that  I  would  attribute  to  the 
social  warmth  (and  even  heat)  of  South  Louisiana  Creole  dance  halls. 
But  the  form  is  undeniably  enjoying  some  national  attention.  In  South 
Louisiana,  a  veritable  army  of  young  Creole  bands,  like  Buckwheat 
Zydeco,  the  Sam  Brothers  and  Terrence  Semien  and  the  Mallet  Playboys, 
have  become  interested  in  the  music  of  their  heritage.  A  few  Cajun 
bands,  like  Wayne  Toups  and  the  ZydeCajun  Band  and  Z.  A.  A.  B.  (the  Zydeco 


27^ 


All-American  Band),  have  also  jumped  on  the  zarico  bandwagon.  Old 
masters  like  Clifton  Chenier  and  Rocking  Doopsie  are  in  constant  demand 
for  tours  to  the  rest  of  America,  and  in  Europe  and  Africa.  Musicians 
like  Queen  Ida  and  Jim  McDonald  are  busy  providing  the  west  and  east 
coasts  with  echos  from  the  Gulf  coast.  The  local  music  scene  is  already 
feeling  the  effects  of  the  current  fad  and  it  is  possible  that  the 
national  scene  may  also  be  affected  by  zarico.  Zarico  may  be  tempted  by 
its  brush  with  national  appeal  and  move  into  the  fast  lane,  like  one  of 
its  counterparts,  jazz,  developing  in  new  directions  and  gradually 
distancing  itself  from  the  traditions  which  gave  it  birth.  Classic 
zarico  might  then  be  relegated  to  a  few  South  Louisiana  versions  of 
Preservation  Hall.  Or  maybe  zarico  will  survive  imitation  and 
commercialization,  like  another  of  its  counterparts,  the  blues.  Or 
maybe  the  fad  will  pass  and  south  Louisiana  Creoles  will  continue  to 
dance  their  blues  away  around  their  own  musical  pot  of  unsalted  beans. 


275 


FOOTNOTES 

(1)  Lavrence  W.  Levine,  Black  Culture  and  Black  Consciousness; 
Afro-American  Folk  Thought  from  Slavery  to  Freedom  (Oxford,  London  and 
New  York:  Oxford  University  Press,  1977),  describes  a  similar  blending 
process  in  Afro-American  music  which  produced  "a  hybrid  with  a  strong 
African  base,"  p.  24. 

(2)  From  "Cari  zarico. "  group  Camaron,  Rodrigue,  1980;  field 
recording  by  Jean-Pierre  LaSelve. 

(3)  From  "Soleil  couche.  maman.  la  lune  leve.  no  alle. ■  group 
Camaron,  Rodrigue,  1980;  field  recording  by  Jean-Pierre  LaSelve. 

(4)  From  "La-bas  chez  Moreau. '  Cleveland  Benoit  and  Darby 
Hicks,  Jennings,  1934;  field  recording  by  Alan  Lomax;  Archive  of  Folk 
Song  (AFS)  81al. 

(5)  The  following  references,  in  Wilhelm  Koelle  Sigismund's, 
Polyqlotta  Africana  (Graz,  Austria:  Academische  Druck,  1963),  are  from 
the  western  coast  of  Africa  and  inland: 

Region  IV: 


Yula: 
Kasm: 
Gurma: 


a  za're 

a  sa 

me  dsere 


I  dance 
I  dance 
I  play  &  I  dance 


Region  IX: 


Diwala: 
Region  XII: 


na  sa' 


I  dance 


Landoma  (Wolof  family):  i  pisa 
Asante:  ma  sacmere  sa 

mere  go 
Murundo:  ndsakaka 


I  dance 

I  dance 

I  play  (music) 

I  dance 


Region  IX: 


n  'sa 

I  dance 

nsae 

I  dance 

nsaa 

I  dance 

Nhalemoc: 

Melon: 

Ngoten: 

(6)  Levine  maintains  that  "in  America  as  in  Africa  Negro  music, 
both  vocal  and  instrumental,  was  intimately  tied  to  body  movement"  (p. 
16 ) « 

(7)  From  "Les  haricots  sont  pas  salesr "  Clifton 
Chenier, 'Classic  Clifton,  Arhoolie  1082. 


276 


(8)  From  "Deqo. *  Wilbur  Charles,  New  Iberia,  1934;  field 
recording  by  Alan  Lomax;  AFS  Hal. 

(9)  From  "Flammea  d'enfer,  ■  Delton  Broussard  and  the  Lawtell 
Playboys,  Zodico,  Swallow  6009. 

(10)  "Barres  de  la  prison,  "  Canray  Fontenot,  Boisec:  La  Musique 
Creole,  Arhoolie  1070. 

(11)  The  term  ".jure*  also  raises  the  possibility  of  linguistic 
connections  beyond  its  obvious  religious  origins.  The  phoneme  "re"  is 
also  associated  with  music  and  dancing  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa. 
93-year  old  Cajun  fiddler  Dennis  McGee  uses  "jure"  in  "Adieu,  Rosa" 
(Dennis  McGee  and  Sady  Courville,  La  Vieille  Musique  acadienne.  Swallow 
6030)  a  dance  tune  he  learned  from  black  musicians  around  the  turn  of 
the  century. 

Adieu.  Rosa. 

Merci  Bon  Dieu, 

Demain,  c'est  pas  dimanche. 

Herci  bon  Dieu, 

Rosa,  t'es  pas  ma  soeur. 

Jure,  my  Lordl 


Translated:  Good-bye  Rosa,  thank  God  tomorrow  is  not  Sunday.  Good-bye, 
Rosa,  thank  God  you're  not  my  sister.  Jure,  my  Lord. "  When  I  asked 
Dennis  McGee  what  the  part  about  jure  meant,  he  said,  "I  don't  know, 
but  you're  supposed  to  yell  it  every  now  and  then  during  the  song  to 
excite  the  dancers. " 

(12)  From  "Feel  like  Dying  in  His  Army,"  Austin  Coleman, 
Washington  and  Sampson  Brown,  Jennings,  1934;  field  recording  by  Alan 
Lomax;  AFS  lllal. 


277 


(13)  In  a  similar  vein,  see  Gilbert  Chase,  America's  Music  (New 

York,  1966),  235-236:  "The  English  musician  Henry  Russell,  who  lived  in 

the  U.S.  in  the  1830 's,  was  forcibly  struck  by  the  ease  with  which  a 

slave  congregation  in  Vicksburg,  Mississippi,  took  a  'fine  old  Psalm 

tune'  and  by  suddenly  and  spontaneously  accelerating  the  tempo, 
transformed  it  'into  a  kind  of  negro  melody."  Quoted  in  Levine,  p.  26. 

(14)  From  "Je  veux  me  marier. *  Jimmy  Peters  and  the  jure 
singers,  Jennings,  1934;  field  recording  by  Alan  Lomax;  AFS  79b2. 

(15)  See,  for  example,  Levine,  p.  243. 

(16)  From  "J'ai  fait  tout  le  tour  du  oavs. ■  Jimmy  Peters  and 
the  jure  singers,  Jennings,  1934;  field  recording  by  Alan  Lomax;  AFS 
79al. 

(17)  From  18th  century  accounts  in  the  Louisiana  Colonial 
Records  Collection,  University  of  Southwestern  Louisiana;  and  various 
19th  century  issues  of  Century  and  Scribner's  magazines.  It  is  also 
interesting  to  note  here  that  sale  can  also  connote  naughty  or  risque, 
as  in  un  conte  sale,  a  dirty  joke. 

(18)  Levine,  p.  242. 


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